13
Eddie leaned back against the hood of their RMP with Rachel Witten by her side. They were on a shortened meal break due to an earlier call, but they didn't care. Today was their first tour back on days after too much time stuck on midnight tours. She was soaking in the midday sun and nothing could ruin that for them. Eddie would have gladly given up any and all future meal breaks for a chance to have her schedule align with her husband's again. She and Witten paid their dues and their captain finally took notice, moving them back to days. That, plus some low key nudging from Jamie probably didn't hurt either.
Eddie giggled as Rachel refused to share all of the horrid details about her date last night. The more she held back, the more she wanted to know. "Come on, spill the beans! It couldn't have been that bad!"
Rachel's face reddened. With their schedules going back to normal, she had agreed to a date with a guy she met at the gym. Big mistake. "No! It's too painful! God, Eddie! Just let me live vicariously through you!" she laughed loudly. Unbeknownst to the officers, Rachel caught the attention of a pedestrian who had stopped to check a text.
"What are you talking about? I'm an old boring, married lady," she argued. However, no amount of money in the world would be worth going back into the dating pool. Give her a quiet night in with Jamie anytime, every time.
"Oh, yeah, real old! Do you know what I would give to be in a healthy, stable relationship? I'm so tired of the dating game. You lucked out with Jamie," she huffed.
"Hey!" Eddie scoffed playfully, although she knew truer words were never spoken.
Rachel held her hands up and laughed. "Sorry, I mean he really lucked out with you, Eddie."
"That's more like it," she smirked. "But yeah, I really did luck out with Jamie. Look at the brightside, though. At least you're having some fun while you look for your Mr. Right, right?"
"Oh, yeah! It's lots of fun, until they show you their weird kinks or just stop calling you all together," Rachel said while reaching for the cup on the hood of the RMP. Her shoulders dropped and she groaned, shaking the empty container. "Ugh. I need more coffee before we go. You want?"
"No. I'm good," Eddie smiled and watched her partner head back into the diner, right past a brunette who was staring back at her with what Eddie recognized as panic. Eddie's head tilted curiously. "Can I help you?" she asked, first wondering if the woman was lost.
Sydney snapped out of the trance she'd fallen into when she heard the officer being addressed by the familiar name and turned to find her in conversation with her blonde partner. Her heart stuttered when she recognized her face. "Uh," Sydney muttered, feeling trapped. What were the freaking chances of this happening in the middle of New York City? she wondered. She couldn't run now; she'd probably trip in her heels and break an ankle or cause a police officer to chase after a suspicious-looking woman. Then she would be the weird ex-fiance and baby-mama that gawked at her ex's new wife and then ran away. "I'm sorry. This is unexpected," she said politely when she found her voice. And freaking unbelievable.
Eddie pushed off the RMP and took a few steps toward the woman. "What's that mean?"
Sydney took a deep breath. With nowhere to go as the officer got closer, she decided to bite the bullet. "Eddie Reagan?" she asked, plastering a small, but nervous, smile across her face.
Eddie's eyes narrowed and she came to a stop. She placed both hands on her belt while trying to place her. Her name plate read Janko; how did this woman know her married name? she asked herself. "And you are?"
"Sydney Davenport," she said, her voice even but lacking her usual confidence. Out of force of habit, she held out her hand.
"Oh, uh…hi," Eddie's eyes widened. Now it was her turn to be shocked, but her mind worked fast. Snap out of it, Janko! This is your husband's ex-fiance! "Wow, Sydney! It's nice to meet you," she said and gave her hand a good, firm shake.
"You as well," Sydney returned with a nervous laugh, relieved to at least not get a floppy hand shake in return. She looked around at their totally random setting and shook her head in disbelief. "This is not exactly the way I thought this would happen…meeting you, I mean."
"Yeah, what are the odds, huh?" Eddie laughed. Seriously. But she was curious about something. "Uh, how did you," she began to ask.
Sydney knew exactly where she was going and beat her to it. "I'm sorry. I heard the other officer refer to you by your first name. And I once saw your picture, uh, when you got married. It was in the paper," she explained, worried she'd sound like a stalker with that last detail, but it was the truth.
"Oh." Eddie wouldn't have recognized her from Adam. Unless he kept stuff hidden away at his dad's house, Jamie didn't have old photos and mementos of his past relationships that she had ever come across. She had also fought really hard to not Google 'Sydney Davenport' after James showed up at the Two Nine. This was too personal and she didn't want to be that girl, but let's be honest, she totally was in any other situation. Personally, she thought she deserved a medal for showing such self control.
Since she had no idea what Sydney would look like, brunette was about as far as she would guess considering Jamie had a type until they got together. James was also too much of a carbon copy of his father to see anyone but Jamie in him. Eddie couldn't help taking her in - she was stunning and elegant. A petite brunette with her hair pulled back into an intricate chignon. Her deep blue tailored suit and cream silk blouse paired with the monogrammed, designer briefcase she carried screamed powerful, badass attorney. And she went to Harvard too, for God's sake! Sydney was the girl with the ivy-league education in the fancy pencil skirt and Louboutins while she was the college dropout in jeans and sneakers. Worse, actually - she was in the most unflattering police uniform ever created.
Sydney's mind was also racing, sizing up her ex's new wife. Her son's stepmom. She should have run when she had the chance. Eddie Reagan was everything she assumed she would be and everything Jamie would ever want - a strong, gun-carrying female in a male dominated field, ready to kick ass and not afraid to face any situation head on. Eddie's blonde hair was twisted into a simple bun. She barely wore any makeup, surely a departmental rule, but she didn't need it, not with those bright blue eyes, perfect complexion and warm smile.
"I've been looking forward to meeting you," Sydney said. It was partly true. If Jamie was going to be a part of James' life, so was his wife. She only hoped she was a good person that could love her son almost as much as she did.
"Me too. I know Jamie's been wanting us all to meet when the time was right," Eddie replied. That would be soon. With all of the time they spent together so far, James was amenable to meeting her. She was looking forward to it as well, but she was also worried - she really wanted James to like her. And meeting James also meant meeting Sydney.
Sydney grinned. "I guess he doesn't have to worry about that now."
"Right?" Eddie laughed, but she still couldn't get over the shock of this impromptu encounter. "Wow. I'm sorry, this is just so unexpected. I feel like an idiot. I don't know what else to say right now."
"That makes two of us, so please don't be sorry! I wasn't expecting to run into you like this and I'm probably the last person you expected to see today - or let's be honest - have to deal with ever."
Eddie coughed out a laugh. "Yeah, you're not wrong. But on a serious note, I just wanted you to know, there are no hard feelings, Sydney. Honestly. Jamie is loving the time he's spending with James and I'm really looking forward to meeting him."
Sydney was relieved. It was on her mind - what this woman might really think of her despite Jamie's assurances that his wife didn't hate her for what she had done. "I appreciate you saying that. Really, I do. And I know James is looking forward to meeting you too. He says Jamie speaks of you often."
"Oh, that's great. Yeah." Eddie bit her lower lip and looked up the block, wondering how long two strangers with only a spouse/ex-fiance in common needed before they could end their very first conversation. This was fine, right? There wasn't anything else they needed to say to each other, was there? She wished the radio would come to life. Surely, someone out there was up to no good and needed to be collared, but it would probably help if they radioed back into service first. And where the hell was her partner, anyway?
Sydney looked down the other side of the street, thinking this hadn't been so bad, but how the hell did she end this? Normally, she was a fantastic conversationalist. Now her mind was blank and she couldn't think of a single word to say. What was wrong with her? Then she cursed herself for not taking a cab to her meeting…damn her for trying to enjoy the weather. She was tempted to use the good old 'I have to run, I'm late for a meeting' line, but then she would obsess over how that would look.
Then, the universe decided to save them both.
Witten casually strolled out of the diner, blowing into her fresh cup of coffee. She spotted Eddie with a brunette and approached them. "Hey, you ready to roll?" she asked while offering the other woman a polite smile.
Eddie didn't have time to respond because their radios chirped with a call for all available units to a robbery in progress a few blocks away.
"We gotta go," Witten said, reaching for her radio to respond as she hurried to the driver's side of the RMP.
Sydney saw it, it was like a switch was flipped and Eddie Reagan went into full cop mode. She got a quick 'it was nice to meet you' from the blonde, but it was all business after she heard the call. She ran after her partner and jumped into the patrol car like some sort of Wonder Woman.
Before she knew it, the second most awkward encounter of her adult life was over.
Later that afternoon, Eddie would thank a nineteen year white male for being dumb enough to rob a bodega in the middle of the day.
Just a little fun encounter between Jamie's former and current mates. ;) But it's starting - James will meet Eddie and then the family. We'll see how long before someone begins to cause trouble.