Okay, so I totally meant to have this one up about two and a half months ago, closer to three, but then I got un-motivated and distracted by another fandom, and real life. Ugh. Anyway, last time Jim had asked her to prom and she agreed to go.
Thanks to ItsJustBecca, monkeybaby, decadenceofmysoul, Pharmergirl, Tennisplayer1, and JJfor your reviews of the last chapter. I deeply appreciate them. Thanks also to everyone who continues to read and like this story. Again I apologize for not posting this chapter earlier.
Contains references to 3x21.
Saturday night, Jim pulled up outside the Reagan home and put his truck in park then took a deep breath. Nothing was different about this time than the last time he picked her up and took her out except they were both almost two years older. They were just friends and it was just dinner and a dance. He shut off the car and went to the door. It was pulled open shortly after he rang the bell. "Hey, Jack," Jim said.
"Hey, Jim, come on in." Jack stepped back holding the door open and Jim stepped inside.
His eyes instantly landed on the man sitting on the couch reading a sniper magazine. Jim swallowed but did his best to seem neutral. "Detective Reagan," Jim said. Danny looked up from his magazine then set it aside and stood.
"Jim," Danny answered noticing how nervous the boy looked.
Jim shifted uncomfortably and looked around the room. Jack and Sean were on the other couch both watching him. "Sean, I heard about the race. Congrats on beating that Bonniello kid. My dad knows his dad. They can be quite full of it, most of the time."
"Thanks, but I still lost," Sean answered frowning.
"But as long as you had fun, and Anna says you did, you didn't really lose anything. What happened, Jack?" Jim noticed the older boy's arm was in a sling.
"Dislocated shoulder. The doctor wanted me to rest it for a few days," Jack answered.
"Boys, upstairs," Danny said. Both boys looked annoyed but knew better than to argue with their dad so they went upstairs leaving Jim and Danny in an uncomfortable silence. "Let's get one thing straight, I may have reluctantly agreed to this, but that is my little girl. She means the world to me. If anything happens to her, I will hunt you down," Danny told him.
"Yes, sir. I mean—I—my mom raised me to respect ladies and I'll treat her with the same utmost respect I always have," Jim answered. Danny eyed him suspiciously and Jim did his best not to squirm.
"If you ever think about pressuring her—" Danny stopped and glared. Jim didn't need him to finish the sentence though. Understanding that the man was both a former Marine and a NYPD detective, Jim knew he would be treading dangerous waters if anything improper or bad happened to Anna. On top of all that, Jim cared deeply about the girl. He felt it was physically impossible for him to hurt her.
He still felt the need to explain why he'd never pressure her into anything though. "Sir, when my youngest niece was six months old, the rest of my family took a day trip to the Central Park Zoo leaving me to look after her. It was fine until after lunch. She woke up from her nap and wouldn't stop crying. I didn't know what to do. So I called my sister. She walked me through feeding, burping, and changing her, then taking her temperature. Nothing was wrong. I was terrified. It's been close to five years since then but I think back on that and I realize that I'm still not ready for kids. It still scares me. I would rather run into a burning building than look after a kid younger than two."
"So if something did happen?"
"My mom and dad raised me to take responsibility for my actions. I could never leave her to face the consequences alone," Jim told him.
"Consequences of what?" Anna asked.
"Any action I take. You look great," Jim said, his eyes settling on Anna. Her dress was the exact color she had shown him so it matched his tie perfectly and was one of those traditional princess dresses. Danny looked at his daughter as well and smiled.
"Everything okay, Dad?" Anna asked innocently, batting her chocolate eyes and looking between the two men.
"When you ask like that, it reminds me you are my little girl," Danny answered.
Anna rolled her eyes. "Dad," she groaned.
"There's my spunky teenager." Danny grinned.
Anna rolled her eyes again. "Mom, can we get these pictures over with? I'm starving and he promised me Chinese," Anna said, jerking her thumb towards Jim and looking at her mom who stood on the steps.
"Okay. Boys, get down here and say goodnight to your sister," Linda called. She grabbed her phone and camera and took pictures of Jim and Anna, then took close to the same photos with Anna's and Jim's phones. The boys came down and Linda took a few photos of the kids together before Anna walked over to her dad and wrapped him in a hug.
"I love you and I promise to be safe and smart," Anna said.
"That's my girl," Danny answered, hugging her back as Linda took a few more pictures.
"Mom," Anna groaned when she noticed. Linda only smiled. Anna turned her glare from her mother to her best friend when she noticed him smirking. She sighed and he dropped his smirk. "Jim," Anna said. He looked at her curiously, wondering if she was mad at him, but her eyes said something different. He understood that look perfectly. "Okay, your turn." Anna motioned to her mom. Linda set the camera down on the table and walked over to Anna wrapping the younger girl in a hug. Jim snapped a quick photo of the hug then a photo of Anna with her parents. "Okay, we gotta go now." Anna hugged her mom again then gave her dad a quick kiss on the cheek before grabbing her jacket from the closet. "Be home before midnight."
"Any later ..." Danny prompted.
"You'll call the dogs, I know," Anna answered. She slipped into her coat and grabbed Jim's hand.
"Mrs. Reagan, Detective, I'll take very good care of your daughter," Jim said.
"Of course, Jim," Linda said.
He took her to dinner at a Chinese place and they talked about the Mets' chances and their standings as well as their own baseball team. Their talk carried them from dinner all the way into the dance where they became the topic of conversation. They walked over to Derrek and Krista who smiled. "Well, you look amazing," Krista said.
"Thanks, you do too," Anna answered, looking over Krista's pale blue dress.
"So, you hear they're talking about you and Jim?" Krista asked.
"I expected that and the fact that they probably won't stop until something bigger happens. I don't like it, but I don't think I can change it either."
"What are you going to do?"
"I guess I'll have to ignore it. Other than that there's not much I can do," Anna said.
"Dance with me?" Jim asked, but it also sounded like a suggestion of what she could do besides ignoring the talking. Anna smiled and took his hand. They spent most of the dance talking, dancing, and having fun. Towards the end of the dance, a slow song came on and Jim pulled Anna closer which she didn't protest. "My birthday is next weekend, you know," he said as softly as he could but still loud enough to be heard over the music.
"Saturday night, I know. You having a party? It's a big deal to turn 18," Anna answered.
"Not really; I've never been big on parties."
"Oh, well, we can still hang if you want to."
"My brother actually wants to take me out that night. He was hoping to take me to a bar to celebrate."
"Because you're 18 and can finally get in?"
"And he can get drunk and I can drive him home."
Anna peered at him through the dark and saw he looked pathetic. It was almost as if he felt like an abused dog for having to deal with his brother. "Sounds like a terrible way to spend your birthday," she mentioned.
Jim sighed. "Yeah, but I miss hanging out with my brother. With his job, he's rarely ever around except family dinners and that's rarely alone time with him."
"Oh. Okay." Anna looked down. She hated seeing her friend in such a dilemma. She knew he hated when his brother drank in excess but it sounded like it was the only way to get to see him.
"So I was thinking, my best girl friend is only 16 and can't get into a bar or a club so maybe she'll come with us, we'll go somewhere cool and I'll still get to hang with my brother and as an added bonus, I'll get to hang with her too." He sounded way too happy about his plan.
"You want me to go out with you next Saturday?"
"Please?" Jim begged, turning on the puppy dog pout and turning it up full blast.
"As long as it's okay with my parents, which shouldn't be a problem."
"Good, and I promise it'll be some kind of restaurant or something."
"Okay."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah," Anna answered. She nodded as she looked up to see the pout had broken into a grin.
"This is why you're my best friend," Jim told her.
He walked her to her door with five minutes till midnight and took her hand. "Despite what I thought, I had fun tonight," Anna told him.
"I'm glad."
"Me too. You were a perfect gentleman and also a really great friend. I never felt awkward or like there was any pressure."
"Well, I aim to please."
"I'll see you at school on Monday and I'll talk to my parents about Saturday." Jim smiled brightly and for a brief second Anna's stomach fluttered. She shook off the feelings and kissed Jim's cheek before wrapping him in a hug. Jim held her tight, relishing the feel of her in his arms and the way she fit perfectly under his chin. Too soon Anna was pulling back. "Goodnight, Jim."
"Night, Anna," he reluctantly answered. He waited for her to go inside then slowly made his way back to his truck. Anna watched out the window, waiting for him to drive off, before turning to see her parents watching her. Danny, as usual, was unreadable, but Linda was smiling softly.
"Mom, it's not like that," Anna nearly wined.
"Like what?" Linda asked innocently.
"Whatever you're imagining. He is just a friend, nothing more."
"If you say so, sweetheart. Up to bed, early morning tomorrow," Linda answered. The soft smile still didn't leave her face though. Anna sighed, holding back what she really wanted to say, instead she bid her parents good night and went up to bed.
After church on Sunday, Jamie sat down with her and Nicky and they talked about the dance. As she talked about the fun she had, she watched Jamie's face and saw he was happy for her, but part of him seemed distracted. She wondered if it had to do with the cop on the front page of the papers. She had noticed they were from the same precinct. She didn't ask what had him distracted though. If he wanted to talk about it, he would, so she continued on about the dance. They were soon called to dinner. Of course the officer was the topic of conversation. Being a cop and seeing a crime going on, of course he would have to step in, it was drilled into them since they stepped into the academy, but then came the one caveat. He had had a few drinks at a retirement party and when tested after the incident he blew a .08 on the breathalyzer test. Now he was being blasted as a drunk cop even though he defused the situation, without a shot fired though he did draw his weapon. That seemed to be the sticking point for Frank who empathized with the situation but stuck to the old saying 'draw your weapon, you better be stone-cold sober.' It seemed like most people agreed with him, except maybe Jamie and Danny.
"What do you think would have happened if he had called it in and waited for back up? I don't mean with the civilians. With the department and the media?" Anna asked, once she was sure she had enough facts to make her opinion known.
"There's no way to tell," Erin informed her.
"I think if he hadn't, the headlines would have read: 'Coward Cop Causes Three Deaths.'" Anna said.
"You really think that?" Danny asked.
"Come on, think about it. He sees this robbery in progress and instead of intervening and handling the situation; he calls for backup in a neighborhood that has a three to five minute response time. That amount of time could lead to three civilians ending up dead and Officer Grasso getting called a coward cop for calling it in instead of acting by both the media and the department. I remember someone once saying true heroes run towards the danger not away from it despite the consequences," Anna said. It was something Frank and Danny had both taught her even if they wanted her to stay out of trouble.
"Didn't you have a dance last night?" Frank asked after a moment.
"I did," Anna answered, refusing to give more information than that.
"And you haven't said much to your dad which means it either went really well or it went really bad," Frank continued.
"And where's the correlation between not speaking to my dad and it going really well?"
"You're both in a really good mood and you don't want to ruin it."
"You know, for being away from being a detective for more than 10 years, your detective skills still seem to be on point."
"Anna," Frank chided.
"It went fine. He wasn't really intimidated, we had fun, and I was home before midnight," Anna conceded.
"Who'd you go with?" Henry asked.
"My friend Jim," Anna answered.
"Firefighter Jim?" Henry asked.
"Jim's not a firefighter, Pops. You have to be over 18 and he doesn't turn 18 until this Saturday."
"This the same Jim you went out with two years ago who's uncle dated the Fire Commissioner's daughter?" Frank asked.
"Yes," Anna said. "My friend, Jim Miller."
"So he is from a family of firefighters?" Danny asked.
"That's why you were asking about firefighters a couple weeks ago," Henry said knowingly.
"Okay, wait. Back up. I never said that Jim is from a family of firefighters. I said that his great uncle was an EMT and that great uncle was dating the Fire Commissioner's daughter. I never said he married her and I never said what Jim's parents did for a living. His dad runs a company and his mom used to be a dispatch operator but I don't know who for."
"You know more than you're letting on," Danny pressed.
"Is Jim having a birthday party?" Sean asked after a moment. Anna could almost kiss her brother for changing the subject.
"He's not, but ... um ..." Anna trailed off, trying to think of the best way to ask her question.
"Yeah?" Danny prompted.
"Well, his birthday is on a Saturday night and he was wondering if maybe I could go with him."
"Like on a date?" Linda asked.
"No, it's not a date. His brother is going to be there. It's just dinner," Anna said, doing her best to keep the panic from her voice. She didn't want them getting the wrong idea and shutting it down when it was just an innocent dinner.
"Where?" Linda asked.
"He didn't say, just dinner."
"And how old is his brother?"
"21, since like October, but it won't be at a bar or a club or anything like that. It's why he invited me," Anna explained.
"What do you think?" Linda asked, looking at her husband.
"Nothing happened when he took her to prom," Danny answered.
"True," Linda agreed.
"But she is too young to be dating," Danny finished.
"It's not a date and I haven't been in trouble in weeks. It's just Jim. Come on, please," Anna nearly begged.
Danny and Linda thought it over. "How much do you know about this Jim character?" Henry asked as her parents thought.
"He's my best friend, not a character. He's never been in trouble with the cops, perfect driving record, B plus average, he graduates this year with only one detention on his record and that's Derrek's fault, has an older brother and sister, two nieces, and is considered sheltered and privileged by his public school cousins," Anna explained.
"We'll think about it," Danny said.
Anna huffed as she sank into her seat. That wasn't fair but she knew it was the best she could get out of them at the moment. "Uncle Jamie?" Anna begged, trying to get him to help her.
"Sorry, kiddo, this one is on your parents," Jamie answered, shaking his head.
"Not cool," Anna griped.
"Yeah, it is," Jamie sighed.