(no subject)
Gail went to the sheriff’s office after her evening shift at the hospital. It was virtually empty, as she’d suspected it would be at this hour. She sighed when she saw the expected exception to that emptiness, indicated by the light leaking out from the blinds.
She walked to the door of Beck’s office and the sentry offered no resistance, even though they both knew that ‘he’s expecting me’ was a complete lie. She’d hoped he would bury himself in paperwork, but instead he had cracked open a bottle of something. Apparently he’d passed the denial stage and was in the wallowing phase.
“You know, you should save that for when you can really enjoy it.”
His head snapped up; apparently he was so deep he hadn’t heard her enter.
“How many does that make?” she asked.
“Two.”
She looked at the bottle, noting the level.
“How big were those two?”
“Relax. I started about here.” He pointed. “I first cracked it open when…”
“When what?” she asked. When he hesitated, she spoke again, gently. “Were you sharing it with Heather?”
He snorted.
“I offered. She wouldn’t touch it.”
That got a wry chuckle out of Gail. He gestured to a seat.
“Speaking of which, would you like some?”
“A small one. Save some for when you find her.” She took a sip of the proffered drink. “No wonder she beats you at scrabble. This stuff fries your brain cells.”
“That is its primary use. It never seems to find the exact brain cells I want it to, though.” He looked morosely at his glass. “I had managed to hold onto the bottle, unopened, for five years. Until I got to Jericho. Until Heather.”
“Until Heather?”
“Well, it’s never anything she does. It’s what she says. She has a way of pointing out uncomfortable truths. But she sticks around when the chips fall, god bless her.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. The first time, she called me a coward. Told me I couldn’t see the truth - and then threw the truth in my face. I arrested her.”
Gail sat up in surprise. Heather had never mentioned that.
“’Course, her words stuck in my brain, just as she intended. I let her go about two hours later. She chose to sit with me as my men decided whether to support me or arrest me, and almost certainly re-arrest her.” He took another sip. “I should have sent her away, just in case. Fortunately, they didn’t arrest us.”
“Then there was the night she watched me get drunk. Let me ramble on for the longest time before she cut me off. It’s like… she shoves you over a cliff or something, because it needs to be done, but then she catches you at the bottom. Or perhaps being shoved into a pool of cold water, to bring you to your senses, and then she fishes you out.”
“And tonight…she’s not here to talk to, or listen, or even cut me off. And this is the biggest fucking cliff I’ve ever seen.”
They simply sat there for a bit, sipping their drinks. When Edward moved to refill his glass, though, she stopped him.
“Save it for when you get her back. There’s just enough in there for that.”
“Cutting me off, eh?”
“Well, I’m not Heather, but I can at least do that much. I’ll even hold onto it for you until then, if you like.”
“That would probably be a good idea.” He looked on as Gail secured the bottle in her bag. “Why did you come here, anyway? I appreciate the company, but I’m pretty sure you didn’t come for the drinks.”
“Well, I knew you could probably use the company, but you’re right, that’s not the only reason I came. I…well I ran that test. And I didn’t know if you wanted to know the results or not.”
“Does she know?”
“I don’t know.” He looked at her, confused. “She wanted to wait until you were together, so I wrote it down on a folded piece of paper. I don’t know whether she peeked or not.”
“She did put a bunch of names on the scrabble board.”
“Doesn’t mean she peeked. She may know anyway. Women can tell, you know.”
“Yeah, I suppose I do.”
“So, do you want to know?”
He pondered for a moment. He’d wanted the answer to be yes. Before. But now… to possibly lose Heather was bad enough. To lose her and their unborn child would be… but he couldn’t change that. All he could change was the knowing. And he’d discovered not knowing didn’t make it hurt any less.
“Tell me.”
“She’s pregnant.”
He nodded.
“Thank you.”
“Good night, Major.”
“Good night, Mrs. Green.”