Unexpected Love (Jo's Story)

by Nikki Williams

  “Well, I went to school with Lance. He is a pretty decent guy, but I'm not sure he has what it takes to work well with this team. He is always out to look better than everyone. Derek seems like a very high strong kid. He is on his first year though and that scares me a little. And Mary is experienced, but I am not sure she is cut out to deal with the things that we see on a daily basis. I did a patrol with her one time and we had to do back up for a drug bust and she was a mess. I know she does her job well, just not sure she could do this job.”

  “Well, we could take them to the training center and see how they do.”

  “Yeah, but I don’t think that is very real life like. They know it is fake so they will react differently.”

  “Yeah I see your point. Well I liked Derek; I know he is in his first year, but look at us. We have been working for this since we got on. You have one more year than I do, but you built this team Jo, and I completely trust your decision. I think if he is your first pick then we should go with him.”

  “You think a first year patrol can do this?”

  “Actually, yes I do. He is smart as hell, and I think he would work well with the team we have. Ricky is the one that suggested we talk to him, and next to you I think he is the one that I trust the most.”

  “Yeah, I guess. Let me talk to Ricky and see what he says,” I stand up and head down to his office. I see him looking at some stuff on his computer related to the case he and Bob are working on.

  “Hey boss,” he smiles at me.

  “Hey,” I laugh and lean up against the door frame. “So, Derek Black. What do you know about him and what do you think makes him a good candidate to work with this team?”

  “He’s a damn good cop Jo. I have had him back me up a couple times since he has been here. Actually he was with me last week when we busted this guy,” he points to the picture on his computer. I assume it is the guy from their current case. “He never left my side and did all the right things. He knows how to follow orders and from what I hear from his commanding officer he is always asking to pick up shifts and learn more.”

  “So he is a go getter?”

  “Yeah, you could say that. Is he one of your picks?”

  “Yeah, we talked to three people and right now he is the only one I think would be able to handle working with us.”

  “I don’t think you would be sorry taking him on.”

  “No?”

  “Absolutely not. I think he is going to be a lot like Detective Parker actually. He has the same attitude.”

  “Great, just what I need is another Ryan,” I roll my eyes and laugh.

  “You know that your back will always be covered,” he smiles. “Listen Jo, about Saturday night, I want to say that I am sorry about not taking the shot when I had it.”

  “It isn’t your fault. I told you not to. I didn’t want to chance Lewis getting hit. I know you would have taken it to keep him from getting me, but what’s done is done. There is nothing anyone can do.”

  “I should have taken it after you shot him.”

  “You still would have chanced getting Lewis. You followed orders and that is your job Ricky. That is why you are on this team.” I smile.

  “And you are the leader for the same reason. I'm proud to be a part of this team Jo. You’re a great leader and I think it is amazing that you got that award. I think you deserve it.”

  “Thanks Ricky, I appreciate that. So I am going to bring Derek up. If he does a bad job, I'm kicking your ass,” I laugh.

  “Sounds good to me,” he laughs. I turn and walk back down to my office. Ryan is working on something on his computer when I sit down at my desk.

  “You get to hire the new guy. I have all this paper work that I need to get through,” I laugh.

  “Oh really?” He looks at me.

  “Yes, we are going to bring Derek up. I will go with you to talk to Chief, but I really need to get through this. I will email everyone for a meeting tomorrow morning to go over the new cases for everyone.” I stand up. “Let’s go tell Chief.” Ryan smiles and follows me to Chief’s office and we tell him what we decided. After giving us the ok Ryan goes down to get Derek and I go back to my office and start on some more paper work. I look at the clock on my computer. It is a little after 3:00. Jake should be home by now. I am surprised I have not heard from him. I'm sure he knows I am swamped with being gone last week. I look over at the flowers in the window. They are so pretty. I think I will leave them here. I smile and grab a stack of papers with my bad shoulder and drop them on my desk. I keep forgetting that I don’t have full strength in that arm. I do some of my stretches that the doctor told me to and try to loosen it up a little bit.

  “Still sore?” Chief is standing in the office door.

  “Yeah, I assume it will be for a little while.”

  “Did they take your stiches out yet?”

  “Yeah, last Friday. The doctor was impressed with how quickly it was healing.”

  “I'm not, you’re a fighter and you don’t let anything get you down. But if you ever scare me like that again I will put you on permanent desk duty,” he teases me.

  “Trust me; I am going to avoid this at all cost. This is no fun for me. Everyone is worried more about me now than they were before.”

  “You have a lot of people that care about you Jo. I see the boyfriend sent some flowers,” he looks at the flowers in the window.

  I laugh, “Yeah, we have been apart since Wednesday and he apparently misses me.”

  “He’s a lucky guy Jo. I’m surprised it took you two years to get snatched up.”

  “I don’t think I was ready until Jake came along.”

  “No, I don’t think you were, you seem happy.”

  “I am, extremely happy.”

  “Good, just don’t let him talk you into leaving my department,” he jokes.

  “Oh don’t worry, I'm not going anywhere. He isn’t too happy about it but I already told him I love my job and he is going to have to deal with it.”

  “Good I'm glad. Well I have to get going, big meeting downtown about some budgets. Let me know if you need anything.”

  “Thanks Chief,” I smile.

  “No problem, I will see you tomorrow?”

  “Absolutely.” He turns and walks back down the hall. I am filling out some stuff to hand back into Chief when my phone pings for a text.

  So we are having our party Thursday night at Leo’s I hope you guys can make it. Sorry it is such short notice, Michael was taking forever to make up his mind.

  I don’t have anything going on…I already took off Friday because of the dance thing I'm going to with Jake so I should be able to be there. Want to throw my birthday in there too?? I haven’t celebrated in a couple years…plus I have something amazing to celebrate with getting another year older

  What else are you celebrating??

  Detective of the Year!!!

  You got that?? OMG Jo that is amazing…absolutely we will celebrate your birthday and that Can’t wait!

  I smile; I hope Jake doesn’t have anything going on. I look at the time 4:30. I think I am going to call it a day and head home. I grab the stack of papers that I got done today and disperse them where they need to go. I take my insurance stuff to HR and head back to my office.

  “You heading out?” Ryan is coming out of Ricky’s office.

  “Yes, I just have to shut down my computer.”

  “What are you up to tonight?”

  “Well, Jake should have picked the girls up from Lisa’s house since they go there after school now, and then taken them back to his place. He was going to make dinner for us and we were going to just hang out. I'm betting the girls are in the pool.”

  “Did you tell him about your award yet?”

  “No, he hasn’t text or called me yet surprisingly,” I laugh. “I figured he would have called the minute he landed.”

  “Yeah, that is a shock,” he laughs. “Well I am going to pick Molly up. She wants me to meet one
of her friends. Not sure how much fun that is going to be.”

  “I'm sure you will do fine. Oh yeah, don’t make any plans for Thursday night. I am inviting you to my party. Well, mine, Annie’s, and Michael’s party.”

  “You’re celebrating your birthday this year?” He looks at me with shock on his face.

  “Provided I can find someone to take the girls overnight, yes. Plus my award, I think I have a reason to celebrate this year.”

  “Your right, you do,” he gives me a hug. “I'm proud of you Jo; you have come a long way in the last couple years. I know better than anyone that you have struggled and you have beaten the odds of getting through this. I give you props; I don’t think I would be able to do it.”

  “Thanks Ryan,” I smile. “That means a lot coming from you since you saw firsthand all the pain that I was going through. I think if it wasn’t for you I would have given up a long time ago.”

  “That’s what friends are for,” he steps back from me.

  “Should I come back later?” I hear Jake’s voice. I look up and see him standing in the door way looking amazing. I smile instantly and walk over to him and kiss him. He pulls back from me and smiles. “Miss me?”

  “More than you can imagine,” he keep my arms around his neck. “Where are the girls?”

  “At the house with Molly. They wanted to go swimming and I wanted to see you,” he bends down and kisses me again. “I see you got your flowers?”

  “Yes, thank you. A little over the top though,” I smile.

  “Never,” he lets me go a little. “Hey Ryan,” he looks over at Ryan who is now sitting at his desk trying to ignore us.

  “Hey Jake, I'm glad your back, she has been a wreck,” he laughs.

  “I have not,” I give him a dirty look and shake my head. I let go of Jake’s neck and grab my jacket off my chair. “I will see you later jackass,” I say to him.

  “Have a good night,” he laughs.

  “You’re ready to go?” Jake looks at me surprised.

  “Yeah, I decided I'm fed up with paperwork for the day,” I walk past him and out the door.

  “Perfect,” he grabs my hand and we walk out of the station. “Ride with me?”

  “How am I going to get home?”

  “I will bring you back to your car,” he smiles.

  “Ok,” we walk to his car. “You washed your car?”

  “No, my sister took it in and had it detailed.”

  “Oh wow, you should let her borrow it more often,” I laugh.

  “Oh no, she is buying her own car this week. I agreed to loan her the money so I don’t have to worry about my car anymore.”

  “You and your car,” I laugh as I sit down and shut the door behind me. He sits down and pulls me over toward him and kisses me again, a deeper more sensual kiss this time.

  “I missed you so much,” he says when he backs away.

  “I missed you too. How was Denver?” I sit back in my seat once he starts the car.

  “Boring, I got to sit and watch.”

  “Sucks doesn’t it?”

  “Yes,” he laughs. “They have you working though it looks like,” he grabs my hand.

  “Yes, they brought in a bunch more cases from all over the city for us to get involved in. Chief let me hire a new team member, and Ryan is now my partner again.”

  “Good, you need someone to watch your back like him.”

  “He has changed a lot since he got rid of Hailey and started dating your sister.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  “Yeah, he’s happier.”

  “Well, we Adams kids have that effect on people,” he smirks.

  “You are so full of yourself,” I laugh.

  “Yes, I am. Can you blame me? I have the money, fame, and now the girl,” he squeezes my hand.

  “Sure Jake,” I shake my head. “Oh did Annie text you about Thursday?”

  “No, why what is going on?”

  “A big party at Leo’s. Her and Michael’s birthdays.”

  “What about yours?”

  “Yeah, mine too. This will be the first time in two years I have actually celebrated my birthday. I have reasons to this year.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  “Yes, I have you that is a good reason to celebrate. And I got some good news at work today,” I smile as he pulls up to the gate at his house.

  “Oh yeah what was that?”

  “Because of the bust we are getting the award for Department of the Year this year.”

  “That’s awesome,” he pulls into the garage and parks the car.

  “Yeah, it is,” I smile and wait for him to walk around and open my door. He grabs my hand and helps me out, “that’s not all.” I pull him close to me. “Guess who is getting the award for Detective of the Year?”

  He looks down at me and I see a smile on his face, “you?” I nod. “Baby that is amazing! I'm proud of you, congrats,” he kisses me. “Good thing I don’t have practice on Friday so we can celebrate,” he smiles when he pulls away from me.

  “You don’t?”

  “No, coach doesn’t make us practice because of the Ball. So I can lie in bed all day and recover.” He laughs.

  “Oh yeah, well so can I because I took Friday off to get ready for the Ball.”

  “Good, we can recover together.”

  “If I can find someone to take the girls.”

  “See if they can stay and Lisa and Mark’s place. Melissa can watch them.”

  “You know I don’t like doing that Jake.”

  “You know they love it right. They did not want to leave when I went there to pick them up today.”

  “They will be even more excited when they find out they are going to live practically right across the road,” I laugh.

  “Yes they will,” he grabs my hand and leads me into the house. “Want something to drink?”

  “Just water is fine. I am going to go down by the pool,” I walk through the kitchen and out the patio door and head down to the pool. I can hear the girls squealing and laughing with Molly. “Hey girls,” I smile.

  “Hi mommy,” Abby screeches. I smile as she swims as fast as she can to the steps and comes running at me. I bend down and give her a big hug.

  “How was school today?”

  “So much fun. I got to hand out milk today at break time.”

  “Cool. Did you do lots of fun stuff?”

  “Yes, we made some paintings, I gave mine to Jake so he could hang it up,” she smiles at me. “Is that ok?”

  “Of course it is sweetie, you can give you art work to anyone you want to,” I smile. She claps her hands in excitement and runs past me and I turn and see Jake walking up. He catches her in mid jump and plants a kiss on her cheek. I don’t think I have ever seen him smile like he is at this minute. He truly adores the girls. I stand up and go sit on a lounge chair. I watch Lizzy who is playing with Molly. She seems a little down today. I bet she is missing her dad right now. She goes through those days. “How was your day at school Lizzy?” I ask her.

  “It was fun. I fell in gym class today and hurt my knee.” She pouts.

  “Is it bad?”

  “No, just sore. The nurse said I was fine and that I will be better in a couple days,” she starts walking out of the pool. She gets out and comes and sits next to me. “Mommy, are we moving?”

  “What made you ask me that?”

  “Bridgette said that Jake is building a new house and we are moving in with him.”

  “Would you be ok with that?” I glance at Jake to see if he heard her and he did and starts walking toward us.

  “Yes I think I would. Are you going to get married?”

  “It’s a little soon for that,” Jake sits across from us. “Does it worry you that we might get married some day?”

  “No, not really. I'm just scared that if mommy marries you she will forget about my daddy.”

  “Lizzy, I will never ever forget about your daddy. I will always love him forever,” I pull her
close to me.

  “What if I forget him?”

  “Lizzy, I won’t let you forget your daddy,” Jake kneels in front of her. “I am not trying to replace him at all. I know how much you and your mommy love him and I don’t want you to ever stop.” She looks from me to him and smiles.

  “I am ok with you getting married. I think you would be a good second dad. Besides, if we move in with you then we will be closer to Bridgette right?”

  Jake laughs, “Yes you will.”

  “Yay!” She jumps up and runs back to the pool.

  “How do you handle hearing that?” Jake sits next to me and pulls me close to him.

  “It tears my heart apart every time she says something like that.” I blink back tears. He rubs my arm and just sits there holding me. I never thought that one talk with my six year old daughter could be that in depth. She is too smart for her own good sometimes.

  “So would it be ok if I stay and your place with you this week?”

  “All week?”

  “Well the next few nights. I thought maybe you and the girls could stay here this weekend. Except for Thursday and Friday night. Who is watching the girls Friday night?”

  “My mom is going to take them after school until I pick them up on Saturday.”

  “Well you want to stay for the weekend? I was hoping we could go over some things for the house?”

  “Like what?”

  “Well, the girls’ rooms, our room, and the extra bedroom you had me add,” he kisses my neck. I smile. I forgot about that talk that we had.

  “Oh yeah, that’s right,” I look up at him.

  “You forgot?”

  “Not forgot, just haven’t thought about it since we had that talk,” I smile.

  “I have, a lot,” he wraps his arms around me and kisses my ear. “It’s hard to concentrate when you say stuff like that to me Jo.”

  “I was just being honest with you.”

  “I know, and you made my night when you told me that. And probably my weekend.”

  “I'm glad you’re happy.” I smile and turn toward him. “Are you going to make supper?”

  “No, my chef is,” he laughs. “I can’t cook remember.”

  “Oh yeah, that’s right,” I laugh. He leans down and kisses me.