by B. D. Gates
45
"Bishop," she whispered, her mouth against my neck.
"Yes, ma'am?"
She leaned back and smiled at me. "Take me to bed."
I smiled at her in turn, took her by the hand, and we made our way to my bedroom, undressing one another, kissing and removing articles of clothing from each other until we were naked and laughing, falling together across the bed.
I pulled her on top, let the weight of her press down on me. This was real, I wasn't dreaming, she wasn't a memory. I ran my hands over her, along the length of her, our kisses long and deep.
No words were spoken but so much was said.
I knew her so well, the feel of her, how she moved under my hands, her breath when I touched her. I had wanted her, wanted this, for so long...I let go, released the precarious hold I'd had on it for the past year as I made love to her, my hands and mouth now free and I whispered to her, told her all the things I'd wanted to say for so long.
She whispered, too, her soft words echoing mine.
Words fell away, we were touch and scent and taste as our bodies intertwined, hands and mouths stoking our emotions.
She was trembling as my hand slipped between her legs, reaching in, as her hand found its way to mine and we both went still, gasping, smiling, our eyes on each other, neither of us moving, letting our heat build with anticipation. It began slowly, gently, softly building under our hands, our mouths, moving with and against the feel of each other until there was nothing but the heat of our passion, sensation and release.
We laid there, wrapped around each other, hearts pounding, neither of us moving, when I felt her fall apart underneath me, saw her tears.
"I'm so sorry, Bishop. I'm so sorry I hurt you."
"Tess, I know. It's okay."
"No, it's not. I hurt you, and I can feel it."
I didn't know what to say, to be honest.
I found myself thinking that we weren't quite the same two people we were a year ago, we'd both been changed by our time apart, that there seemed to be an odd disconnect that I couldn't explain--was it self-preservation, that I was holding back that last little bit of myself? Was Tess the same woman who'd left me that morning, afraid to stare the uncertainty of her leaving in the face?
Tess looked up at me as I wiped the tears from her face.
"Bishop, do you think we really can start again, that we can pick up where we left off?"
46
"I thought I'd find you here."
Penny fouled off the pitch and it struck the batting cage fence next to Jacks, making her quickly pull her fingers out of the chain links and take a step back. "Should I take that personally?"
"Do you think you should?"
"Maybe."
"What do you want, Jacks?" Penny clipped another ball and sent it rocketing behind her.
"I'm just checking on you, Penny, I saw what happened at the wedding, I just want to know that you're okay."
"I'm fine." This time, Penny sent the ball sailing straight towards the netting at the back of the cage.
"Really."
"Yes, Jacks, really."
"Where's Baxter?"
Penny sent another foul towards Jacks.
"Are you sure you're not doing that on purpose?"
"Do you think I'm that good?"
"Honestly, Penny, yes. Yes, I do."
That was the last ball from the pitching machine. Jacks took that opportunity to enter the batting cage and block Penny's path to the payment box.
"Get out of the way, Jacks."
"Penny..."
Penny looked at Jacks. "Baxter's gone, I left her, okay? Anything else you want to know?"
Jacks just looked at Penny, not saying a word.
"It was for the best, Jacks."
"Maybe it was--for her. Not for you, though."
"What was I supposed to do? She doesn't love me like she loves Tess, she never has."
Jacks was quiet. "I know, Penny. Look, I know you hurt right now, and I'm here for you. Same as when you were there when Julie walked out on me, okay? That's all."
Penny sighed. "I'm sorry. Thanks. But I'm okay." There was a pause. "I will be. I'm starting my new job tomorrow, I've got nothing but blue skies and butterflies ahead of me."
"Ew."
"Too much?"
"For you, yes. You're right, though, you've got a fresh start. A whole new world, blazing trails..."
"Ew."
"Okay, that's fair." Jacks laughed as she turned around and dropped quarters into the box. "Carry on. One more round, then let's go eat."
Jacks exited the cage as Penny took her stance and swung. The ball smacked the fence near where Jacks waited.
"You sure you can't do that whenever you want?"
"No," Penny smirked.
"No, you can't? Or, no, you can?"
The ball banged off the fence in front of Jacks.
"What do you think?"
Jacks shook her head. "You're buying dinner, just for that."
"Fine."
47
Penny woke up five minutes before her alarm went off, was showered and dressed twenty minutes ahead of time and was drinking her second cup of coffee as she drove towards downtown Tenley and her new job (hell, her NEW LIFE) with the Tenley Police Department.
She pulled around the building and parked, then looked around. The police department was housed in City Hall, an impressive red-brick two-storey structure, along with the District Attorney's office and the Hall of Records. She watched employees entering the double doors of the back hall entrance, and as a church bell tolled the nine o'clock hour, she grabbed her backpack, heading in to her first day of work overseeing the brand-new Media and Technology department of the Tenley PD.
She could not stop grinning.
Entering the department, she walked up to the Desk Sargeant's window, positively beaming. "Good morning, George."
"Good morning, Penny," he replied, a near-smile crossing his face. "I have your ID badge and your locker assignment, just sign at the bottom. And you meet with Lisa from HR at ten o'clock. Her office is on the second floor." He pushed the papers and the badge through the opening at the bottom of the bullet-proof glass.
Penny took the badge and hung the lanyard around her neck, signing the paper after noting her locker number. She was passing the paper back to George when Fowler walked in.
"Morning, Penny. Ready to go to work?"
"Joe, I'm so ready! This is great!"
George buzzed them through to the bullpen and Joe headed across the room to his desk, pointing out several more not currently in use and telling Penny to take one as her own.
She chose the one in the far corner, wiped off the dust, and settled in.
At ten o'clock, she went upstairs to HR and completed her employment paperwork, then met with Captain Huff to discuss her department's budget, his expectations, and what her overall role would be. At the end of their meeting, he escorted her to the door of his office, then greeted his next appointment.
"Tess, hello, good to see you, my morning just gets better and better. You remember Penny Harris, from that airport incident involving your Witness Protection assignment last year, I've hired her to run our new Media and Technology department."
They had already spied each other before Cap ever began the introductions, the captain was oblivious to the way the two women were looking at each other. Tess smiled first, Penny followed and Cap grinned at the two of them.
"Yeah, sure, hi, Penny, Joe Fowler told me you'd been hired."
"Nice to see you, Tess, I was at a wedding this weekend when I heard you were coming back to Tenley."
Ouch.
Tess didn't blink, but her eyes slightly narrowed as she took in the still-smiling Penny.
Tess broke off first. "Cap?" Tess indicated she was ready to start their meeting.
"Sure, go on in, we'll get started. Penny, if you need anything, let me know, and I look forward to seeing your recommendations. Glad to have you
aboard."
"Thank you, Captain, I appreciate that and I'll have that information for you as soon as possible."
Penny turned and walked out of Cap's office, making it into the hall before she chuckled aloud.
Okay, it was childish, but she couldn't resist a dig at Tess, however small.
The girl just really needs to lighten up.
48
Penny took some time to look around the department, find the break room and her locker, then she headed to Central Communications, the department's call and dispatch center. She introduced herself to the dispatchers, then sat off to the side and watched them work, taking notes on her phone.
Back in the bullpen, she turned on the computer at her desk, taking in the software version as she ran updates. It had been a while since the computer had even been turned on, much less updated. This was going to take a while.
Her head down, she was studying her phone when Tess walked up.
"This is my desk," Tess said.
Penny looked up, blinking. "What?"
"This is my desk."
Penny leaned back in her chair and looked Tess dead in the eye. "This desk was empty, has been empty for a while, considering the amount of dust on it, like, for maybe...a year? So, no, this is MY desk. You need to find another."
Tess crossed her arms. "You need to find another."
Penny just looked at Tess, then she suddenly jumped up, wrapped her arm through Tess's, and pulled her towards the door. "Let's take a walk, Tess."
The smaller girl marched them through the department and into the hallway, then out the front door to the sidewalk. Tess didn't argue, didn't fight against her, didn't say a word until they stood face-to-face on the street corner.
"Listen up, cupcake," Penny started.
"Cupcake?"
"I'm trying to be nice. Look, Tess, you left. You left Tenley, you left your job, and, most of all, you left Baxter. And you think that all you have to do is turn around and you get it all back. And you have, for the most part. Everything just the way you left it...but, you know what? It wasn't like this when you left, and not for a long time. I had to pick up the pieces, put her all back together again. Again. You think that was easy?
"Because geezus, Tess, you were always there, always, you haunted her. Then, you came back--how could I not let her go? So, yeah, you get your job back, you get Baxter back, but dammit, I'm keeping the fucking desk."
Tess stared at Penny, then sat down on the low whitewashed block wall separating the courthouse lawn from the sidewalk.
Penny sat down next to her. "Look, we're going to be working together, a lot, you're going to have to learn to share, so you'd just better get used to it, and you should know that I will call you on it when you overstep."
"I can share."
"Tess, I don't think so. I don't think you've ever had to before."
Tess frowned at that, but she couldn't dispute it, not really.
"So," Penny continued, "are we agreed, then? We work together from here on and we share."
Tess smiled, but it was a little pained at the edges.
It had been a long time since anyone had held up a mirror to her, dared her to look into it.
"Agreed."
"Good. And you'd best promise me one more thing right now, Tess Hayes. You will never, ever, leave Baxter again. You hear me?"
"I promise, Penny."
"Alright then."
The church bell began tolling the noon hour.
"So, I'm new around here, where's a good place to get a chili dog and fries?"
Tess laughed at that. "Morton's. Just around the corner. C'mon."
49
Tess and Penny didn't talk much while they ate, but when they did, neutral topics were the order of the day. Truth be told, they were really just getting used to being in each other's space.
Tess drove back to Richmond after lunch. She still had to work out her notice with the Richmond PD. She smiled as Miranda looked up and saw her exiting the elevator, smiling at her in turn.
"Hello, Tess, how did your meeting go?"
"Cap hired me back, we're just picking up where we left off, essentially."
"You know I'm going to hate to see you go, and not just because I have to break in a new partner."
Tess laughed. "I'm gonna miss you, Mir. I didn't realize until I was driving back here that I haven't worked with women before, my partners are all male, and it really is different. Tenley PD just hired a woman to run their new Tech department and it's already been...interesting."
"Yeah, I imagine it's been a real change for you. So, tell me, has Captain Stallings given you a last day of service yet? I told him that I didn't think working out a full four-week notice was necessary, especially since you've kept up your paperwork and there are several applicants that could start immediately."
"He said my last day can be this Friday if that's okay with you."
"Ah, well, if I must, then..."
"Mir, I'm so sorry, I feel like I've wasted your time, and you've really been so good to me."
"Hon, it was not a waste of time, not mine and not yours. You're a good cop, a good detective, and you need to trust your instincts, they're better than you think they are."
Tess smiled and took that compliment to heart. "I will, Mir, I promise. So, are you done for the day? Because I'd really like to take you out for a drink. Do you have time to do that?"
"I have an even better idea. Why don't you come to my house for dinner?"
"You're right, that is a better idea."
That evening, Tess and Miranda sat on the small balcony overlooking the city streets below Miranda's apartment complex while they chatted. It was Tess who brought up Hatch.
"Have you heard from her?"
"Not a word--but that's Hatch. I don't think she thinks about texting or calling much, it's just not in her mindset that there might be someone who's worried about her and wants to hear from her from time to time."
Bishop's words from long ago echoed in Tess's mind: "I haven't had to check in with anyone in a very, very long time...it really isn't something I automatically think of doing..."
"She really liked you, Tess."
"I really liked her, too, Mir."
Miranda smiled at that. "Ah, well, one thing I've learned about Hatch, she turns up when you least expect it."
That night, Tess sat on the couch in her apartment in Richmond, her phone on her lap as she waited for a reply to her text.
50
It was late when Hatch's phone vibrated in her back pocket, catching her by surprise as she and Kane sat in Kane's hotel room in North Carolina, reviewing the information that had been forwarded by the department regarding their new surveillance targets. She dug it out and opened the message.
"Should I ask?" Kane grinned.
"No, you shouldn't."
Hatch typed in a reply, hit send, and put the phone back in her pocket.
"You're not going to tell me?"
"Nope."
"Well, that's no fun. What if I guess? Like, it's Tess, and how she's thinking of you, how she misses you, wishes you were there, what she'd do to you if you were..."
"Kane, that's terrible."
"What's so terrible about it?"
"Look, it's not like that. She just told me that she took my advice and that she's going home. That's all."
That wasn't all, but Hatch wasn't going to share the rest of it--that it meant Tess was going back to Bishop--because, while she was happy for Tess, she was a little sad for herself.
And she did not know what to think about that.
51
Penny spent the rest of the week researching a collection of audio/video systems for use by the Tenley police officers on patrol. She created computerized charts of comparable and unique features offered by each system and the prices in bulk. On Friday, she presented the information to Captain Huff and provided him with a folder containing all of the information she'd presented for his review.
N
eedless to say, Cap was impressed and told her so. Penny was delighted. This job was a perfect fit for her and she wanted to prove that she was a valuable resource.
She wanted to keep this job. She was technically savvy, naturally curious, and she was being recognized for abilities that came as natural to her as breathing.
She wasn't a 'go-fer' in a photography studio any more, she was a member of the Tenley Police Department.
That night, at home and alone, she sat on the end of her dock with Joey, her large ginger cat, and looked out across the water. Taking a deep breath, she raised her outstretched arms to the new moon, its dim light reflecting off the tops of the low clouds scudding across the sky.
Something big was coming. She could feel it on the wind.
52
Tess walked into the department and chose the desk next to Penny's. She was very aware of how she'd changed things by leaving and that nothing would ever really be the same again--more like different versions of the things she remembered. She booted up her computer and looked around the room.
It was the same room, she was just seeing it from another angle, another point of view, but isn't that how it really is? You can go back, think you're going back to the same place, the same people, but now you're not really standing where you stood before, and everything is not quite where you left it.
Penny came in as Tess was settling in. She nodded at Tess, who nodded in turn.
And some things were just going to take time.
"I've updated your computer and added a few new apps," Penny told Tess as she powered on her own computer. "If you have any trouble, let me know."
Tess looked at Penny, realized that she knew nothing about this woman, and that she may have seriously underestimated her.
"Okay, thanks."
Penny just nodded.
Fowler and White entered the department and made a beeline straight for them.