FOL Fiction
After years of lurking and enjoying, I am trying my hand at fan fiction. For some reason FOL is the most compelling to me right now. My inspirations are caveatreader, textfiend and mflores. This is a pale imitation.
Title: Catching Up
Disclaimer: Don't own them. Just for fun
Rating: PG 13 ( language, mild angst)
Setting: Mid 1990s NYC
This may have to be posted in parts. It is complete.
“C’est parfait!” Blair exclaimed. “See you Saturday. By the fountain of course. Bien sur. A bientôt.”
“Who you talkin to, Pepe?” Jo joked, as Blair hung up the phone. Jo secretly liked it when Blair spoke French. It was kinda sexy.
"Nancy.”
“Nancy?”
“Nancy Butler, nee Olsen, from Eastland. She and Roger are in town.”
Buttering the last piece of her bagel, Jo warily asked, “and this is ‘parfait’, how?”
“We are getting together on Saturday. I haven’t seen them for ages. Nancy and I are meeting at the Met for the Cezanne exhibit and then we’ll join Roger for dinner at Racini’s.” Blair explained.
“Blair, I’m on duty Saturday, I don’t think....”
“Jo, Jo, Jo. I wouldn’t impose on you like that. You and Nance never really bonded, I know.” Blair said, patting Jo’s hand sympathetically.
“That might be because we were classmates for three years and she never bothered to learn my last name. She visited us for your reunion in Peekskill and you had to introduce me for christsake. Nancy was probably the only girl at Eastland more oblivious than you.” Jo replied waspishly.
“Then you don’t mind skipping our little outing, do you Pol-ni, Ply-no. Czek mate? How does it go again?” Blair queried, batting her eyes.
“Are you kidding? Knock yourself out.” Still, Jo thought, it would have been nice to have been asked.
“So, Blair, have you kept up to date with ole Nance and Rog?” Jo inquired, leaning back in her chair.
Blair smiled. “They send me Christmas letters from London. They have a seal. No,” Blair said, cutting off Jo’s smirk, “not the circus animal, the wax thingie. They live in a townhouse in Kensington. Their son Jeremy is six, the girl Megan is four. The kids attend nursery school with Prince Andrew’s children. Roger is doing very well at Morgan. The family spent the Easter break in Spain and Christmas in Verbier.” Nancy is busy with the garden club and the Anglo/American society but tries to work out daily. Everyone is devoted to Bunter, their labradoodle. Their nanny had to return to Romania, some immigration issue, which was very devastating to the kids but .....”
“Thanks for the update,” Jo jumped in, “but I have to get to work sometime this century. What I meant was, have you told them about us?”
Blair sipped her coffee, a tad uneasily. “In a way. When I called Nancy on her birthday and she asked me if I had a special man in my life, I said no. Does that count?”
“So you didn’t bother to mention that we live together. That we are shacking up. That her precious Blairie Pie is a big old lezzie?”
“She never asked.” Blair said primly.
Jo had to laugh. “Well that’s OK. Nancy didn’t notice the first nine years we lived together, so why should she bother about it now. After all, it isn’t as earth shattering as the labradoodle.” Jo rose from the table and put on her holster and jacket.
Blair came to Jo at the door, wrapped her arms around her, and pressed her mouth to Jo’s ear. “I’ll tell them on Saturday,” she murmured. She nuzzled Jo’s neck. “You have it all over the labradoodle.”
“How about the Romanian nanny?”
“Depends on what she looks like.” Blair giggled, swatting Jo’s shoulder. “Have a good day, sweetheart, and please be careful out there.”
“Back at ya,” said Jo, kissing Blair before stepping into the hall.
************
“Oh Blair, it’s so wonderful to see you. You look positively radiant.” Nancy gushed as they walked up the grand staircase of the museum.
“Thanks, Nancy, so do you. For a mother of two, you’ve certainly kept your figure.”
“Well the workouts are a must. And our cook has finally learned to cut down on the gravy and chips. It’s a struggle sometimes, but Roger likes me slim.”
Does he, Blair thought, bothered a little by the idea.
“So,” Nancy said. “I hope you don’t mind, but Roger and I thought it might be nice if we invited a friend to join us at dinner?”
“A friend?” Blair asked.
"A business colleague of Roger’s actually. Peter Hurley. He is very charming. Rich, good looking, divine accent, and, here’s the best part Blairie Pie, unattached.”
Uh oh. “Nance, I don’t know. I was hoping the three of us could just catch up.”
“Oh Blair, please. Roger really would like him to come. And I think that the two of you would hit it off. I mean you are both so gorgeous.”
Blair couldn’t resist tossing her hair just a little. “Well, if it means that much to Roger, I suppose it would be all right.”
Nancy looked relieved. “I’ll call Roger. The reservation is for eight at Racini’s, right? Oh Blair, wouldn’t it be great if this turned into something. You could move to London. Harrods is wonderful but the best news is that they just opened a high speed train line to Paris. Imagine, haute couture less than three hours away.”
Blair smiled. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Nancy. It’s just dinner. Oh look, one of my favorites!” she exclaimed, as they entered the gallery. It’s called ‘Rocks in the Forest’. Can’t you just feel the wind in the trees? And look at the light. Incredible. That Cezanne. Something else, isn’t he?”
Nancy looked at her friend as she chatted excitedly about the painting. Yes, something else.
**********
The phone rang at the station house
“Twenty Fifth, Detective Polniaczek speaking.”
“Hi there.”
“Well, hello Blondie, how are the ladies who lunch?” Jo said with a grin.
“The exhibit was wonderful. I’m at home now, getting ready for my date.”
The grin vanished. “Your date?” Jo repeated stonily.
“Yes, with Roger’s client Peter Hurley. He is joining us for dinner. He may be Sir Peter Hurley. Or even Lord Hurley, I’m not sure.”
“Should I even bother asking?” Jo sighed.
“Oh Jo, I don’t know what happened. I met Nancy at the museum and I was going to tell her about us right away. But she seemed so happy to see me and I couldn’t find the right moment. And then she started in about how this guy was perfect for me and she didn’t want me to be alone and wasn’t it time that I settled down and started a family And that, with his connections, our kids could get into the best schools and that his country home in the Cotwolds was next to theirs. Honestly, she had planned out this whole life for me and...”
“Hello, earth to Blair: you aren’t alone- you have settled down. You live with someone who, against her better judgment, can’t exist without you.” Jo pulled the phone closer and lowered her voice. “And who, according to assurances given just last night, is someone who gets you so wet and so hot and makes you co...”
“Jo! Really!” Blair exclaimed, mortified.
“Well?”
“I know. But I didn’t know what to do. I mean Nancy is one of my oldest friends. I just couldn’t disappoint her. Please don’t be mad. Just let me get through this dinner and I promise that will be the end of it.”
“Blair, I’m not mad and, as always, you’re gonna do what you wanna do.” Jo said calmly.
“That’s it?” replied Blair suspiciously. “No outbursts, no rages, no rants?”
“Well,” said Jo. “I do think it is a little tacky of Roger to pimp you to his client. On the other hand, maybe you deserve some flirtation time with the male sex.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means, Blair, that ever since we got together you haven’t dated men. Obviously. And you are really good at dating men. Among the best ever. You‘ve been deprived of exercising your natural talent. It is sorta like a race horse harnessed to a milk cart,” Jo explained.
“Jo, I have no idea what you are babbling about.”
“Sure you do. What I’m saying is that I’m good with you showing off your coquette chops and having some innocent fun with old friends.”
“Thanks, I guess.” Blair said uncertainly.
“Just don’t leave me for some foppish Brit, OK?”
“Not likely, sweetheart,” Blair growled.
“Your Bogart is terrible.”
“It was supposed to be Jimmy Cagney.”
“Oh.”
**********
“Hey Nat, it’s me.”
“Hi Jo, how’s it hanging?”
"Good. Look, I know it’s short notice but I was wondering if you wanted to grab a bite tonight.”
Natalie took the phone to her couch and sat down. “Jo, Jo, Jo. You assume that Natalie Greene, high powered CNN journalist, confidant to the rich and powerful-- best friend to Broadway sensation Dorothy Ramsey, currently wowing them as Cosette in Les Miz-- would have nothing better to do on a Saturday night than to ‘grab a bite’ with a surly New York City police detective and her conceited Park Avenue girlfriend?”
“Yeah” Jo replied, wondering idly why everyone liked to chant her name three times.
“Well you would be right.” Natalie said. “Where are we going?”
“Racini’s. And it’s just the two of us. Sorta. I’d better explain.”
**********
So let me make sure I have this straight,” said Natalie, as the two women walked up Madison. “We are going there to check up on Roger, Nancy, your lover Blair and her date. But we can’t let them see us. What are we going to do, disguise ourselves as busboys?”
“We’ll sit in the booths by the bar,” Jo explained. “They’ll be at the tables in the back.”
“So how are we going to get the dirt?”
“There is no dirt, Nat. I don’t know. I just want to be there in case something happens.”
“With Blair and this Englishman? Are you nuts?” Natalie scoffed.
“No. Of course not. I mean I told Blair it was fine and it is, but it’s with Nancy and Roger, who I never liked and don’t really trust. I just want to be around. I can’t explain it really.”
“It’s simple.” Natalie said confidently. “You’re feeling left out. I mean there’s Blair, your best friend and the love of your life, off with her former best friend and her husband, who, by the way, Blair also dated. I can see why you are a little jealous. But I gotta tell you Jo, based on the years I’ve known them both, I can pretty much guarantee that Nancy and Blair have never had any sexual feelings towards each other.”
“Ick,” said Jo.
“I know,” said Natalie. “Get that image out of my head.”
“Anyway,” Natalie continued. “It’s just like Eastland or that reunion at Beverly Ann’s. You’re afraid of missing something.”
“Am I really still sixteen?” queried Jo, somewhat sadly.
“We all are,” assured Natalie. “The fear of exclusion is the most powerful force on earth. Ask Tootie.”
The women arrived at the corner and walked down the stairs into the softly lighted restaurant.
“Good evening, Detective, how nice to see you.” The dark haired host greeted them smoothly.
“Hi Charles. Do you have a booth by the bar?” Jo asked.
“Of course, but won’t you be joining Ms. Warner? Her party is in the back.”
“Oh. Uh. No thanks. Um. She has a business thing. Natalie and I just came in for a quick supper. No need to bother her. Uh. OK?”
“Naturally,” Charles said with a quirk of his eyebrow. “Let me take your coats and I will send your waiter right over.”
**********
“I don’t think this is going to work, Jo. I can’t see their table.”
Jo and Natalie were at a booth, sipping glasses of red wine and sharing a plate of bread and olives.
“If you crane your head this way, you can catch the reflection in that mirror.” Jo demonstrated, twisting her neck and shoulders sharply and leaning over the side of the booth.
“Oh, that’s not conspicuous.” Natalie snickered.
“Do you need anything, Detective Polniaczek?” Charles hurried over to their table.
“Oh. Heh. No thanks. Just getting the blood moving. Long day in the squad car.”
Natalie giggled. “Here, let me try, Sherlock. I have a better angle.”
“Fine. What do you see?” Jo asked irritably.
“There they are. Nancy has her back to us. Hey, Roger looks pretty good. Still has his hair. Blair is sitting between him and another guy. He is cute in a wispy ‘Brideshead Revisited’ kind of way. Not really my type, but Blair always did have a thing for Jeremy Irons. She saw ‘Reversal of Fortune’ three times. Rich blonde woman in a coma, you wouldn’t have thought it appealed.”
“Focus, Natalie,” Jo muttered.
“Right. Blair is talking. Quelle surprise. She is smiling, waving her hands. Nothing new there. Wait...wait ...is it?... yes, it is!... The hair flip! Oh Jo, you are in trouble.”
“Funny, Greene, funny.”
Natalie slumped back into her seat as the waiter brought their entrees. “All right, Copper, how long is the stake out?”
Suddenly feeling ridiculous, Jo snarled. “Let’s just eat.”
Natalie looked fondly at her brooding friend. “It’s all right Jo. I understand.”
Jo shrugged and toyed with her broccoli rabe.
After a moment Natalie asked gently. “So, other than the fact you’ve taken to stalking her, is everything good between you two?”
At that Jo looked up and gave Natalie one of her rare but radiant smiles.
“Great, actually. Really great. I sometimes have to pinch myself. I didn’t tell you, Nat. We are looking at buying a brownstone.”
“You’re kidding!” Natalie exclaimed.
“No. It’s a fixer-upper on the West Side near the Park. It needs a lot of work but it’s beautiful. You should see the molding. A good deal, according to Blair’s dad. Three stories. There’s a garden in the back with a place to store my bike and room for a guest apartment upstairs where you and Tootie could live out your declining years.”
“Blair is willing to leave Park Avenue? Hard to believe.”
“I know,” Jo agreed. “I guess I do have some influence. But it would be a real house we could fix up together.”
“Is there room for a nursery?” Natalie asked slyly.
Jo actually blushed. “We’ve talked about it,” she admitted. “But I want to wait a year or two until I make Lieutenant.”
“Why? You and Warner can’t swing it on your detective’s salary and her $89 million?”
“It’s not that, smartass. A promotion means that I would be directing investigations. Not so much on the front lines, if you know what I mean. Less chance that something could happen.”
“Jo, that’s so morbid.” Natalie shuddered.
“Hey. If we’re gonna do this, we’re gonna to do it right. Two parents in the same house raising the kid together. That’s what neither of us had and that’s what both of us want.” Jo declared firmly.
“You girls.” Natalie chortled. “Did I tell you lately how adorable you are?”
“Yeah, yeah. Lemme have a bite of the piccata”. Jo poked her fork at Natalie’s plate.
“Hey!” Natalie swatted Jo away playfully as she refilled their wine glasses.
********** (end of part 1)
Title: Catching Up
Disclaimer: Don't own them. Just for fun
Rating: PG 13 ( language, mild angst)
Setting: Mid 1990s NYC
This may have to be posted in parts. It is complete.
“C’est parfait!” Blair exclaimed. “See you Saturday. By the fountain of course. Bien sur. A bientôt.”
“Who you talkin to, Pepe?” Jo joked, as Blair hung up the phone. Jo secretly liked it when Blair spoke French. It was kinda sexy.
"Nancy.”
“Nancy?”
“Nancy Butler, nee Olsen, from Eastland. She and Roger are in town.”
Buttering the last piece of her bagel, Jo warily asked, “and this is ‘parfait’, how?”
“We are getting together on Saturday. I haven’t seen them for ages. Nancy and I are meeting at the Met for the Cezanne exhibit and then we’ll join Roger for dinner at Racini’s.” Blair explained.
“Blair, I’m on duty Saturday, I don’t think....”
“Jo, Jo, Jo. I wouldn’t impose on you like that. You and Nance never really bonded, I know.” Blair said, patting Jo’s hand sympathetically.
“That might be because we were classmates for three years and she never bothered to learn my last name. She visited us for your reunion in Peekskill and you had to introduce me for christsake. Nancy was probably the only girl at Eastland more oblivious than you.” Jo replied waspishly.
“Then you don’t mind skipping our little outing, do you Pol-ni, Ply-no. Czek mate? How does it go again?” Blair queried, batting her eyes.
“Are you kidding? Knock yourself out.” Still, Jo thought, it would have been nice to have been asked.
“So, Blair, have you kept up to date with ole Nance and Rog?” Jo inquired, leaning back in her chair.
Blair smiled. “They send me Christmas letters from London. They have a seal. No,” Blair said, cutting off Jo’s smirk, “not the circus animal, the wax thingie. They live in a townhouse in Kensington. Their son Jeremy is six, the girl Megan is four. The kids attend nursery school with Prince Andrew’s children. Roger is doing very well at Morgan. The family spent the Easter break in Spain and Christmas in Verbier.” Nancy is busy with the garden club and the Anglo/American society but tries to work out daily. Everyone is devoted to Bunter, their labradoodle. Their nanny had to return to Romania, some immigration issue, which was very devastating to the kids but .....”
“Thanks for the update,” Jo jumped in, “but I have to get to work sometime this century. What I meant was, have you told them about us?”
Blair sipped her coffee, a tad uneasily. “In a way. When I called Nancy on her birthday and she asked me if I had a special man in my life, I said no. Does that count?”
“So you didn’t bother to mention that we live together. That we are shacking up. That her precious Blairie Pie is a big old lezzie?”
“She never asked.” Blair said primly.
Jo had to laugh. “Well that’s OK. Nancy didn’t notice the first nine years we lived together, so why should she bother about it now. After all, it isn’t as earth shattering as the labradoodle.” Jo rose from the table and put on her holster and jacket.
Blair came to Jo at the door, wrapped her arms around her, and pressed her mouth to Jo’s ear. “I’ll tell them on Saturday,” she murmured. She nuzzled Jo’s neck. “You have it all over the labradoodle.”
“How about the Romanian nanny?”
“Depends on what she looks like.” Blair giggled, swatting Jo’s shoulder. “Have a good day, sweetheart, and please be careful out there.”
“Back at ya,” said Jo, kissing Blair before stepping into the hall.
************
“Oh Blair, it’s so wonderful to see you. You look positively radiant.” Nancy gushed as they walked up the grand staircase of the museum.
“Thanks, Nancy, so do you. For a mother of two, you’ve certainly kept your figure.”
“Well the workouts are a must. And our cook has finally learned to cut down on the gravy and chips. It’s a struggle sometimes, but Roger likes me slim.”
Does he, Blair thought, bothered a little by the idea.
“So,” Nancy said. “I hope you don’t mind, but Roger and I thought it might be nice if we invited a friend to join us at dinner?”
“A friend?” Blair asked.
"A business colleague of Roger’s actually. Peter Hurley. He is very charming. Rich, good looking, divine accent, and, here’s the best part Blairie Pie, unattached.”
Uh oh. “Nance, I don’t know. I was hoping the three of us could just catch up.”
“Oh Blair, please. Roger really would like him to come. And I think that the two of you would hit it off. I mean you are both so gorgeous.”
Blair couldn’t resist tossing her hair just a little. “Well, if it means that much to Roger, I suppose it would be all right.”
Nancy looked relieved. “I’ll call Roger. The reservation is for eight at Racini’s, right? Oh Blair, wouldn’t it be great if this turned into something. You could move to London. Harrods is wonderful but the best news is that they just opened a high speed train line to Paris. Imagine, haute couture less than three hours away.”
Blair smiled. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Nancy. It’s just dinner. Oh look, one of my favorites!” she exclaimed, as they entered the gallery. It’s called ‘Rocks in the Forest’. Can’t you just feel the wind in the trees? And look at the light. Incredible. That Cezanne. Something else, isn’t he?”
Nancy looked at her friend as she chatted excitedly about the painting. Yes, something else.
**********
The phone rang at the station house
“Twenty Fifth, Detective Polniaczek speaking.”
“Hi there.”
“Well, hello Blondie, how are the ladies who lunch?” Jo said with a grin.
“The exhibit was wonderful. I’m at home now, getting ready for my date.”
The grin vanished. “Your date?” Jo repeated stonily.
“Yes, with Roger’s client Peter Hurley. He is joining us for dinner. He may be Sir Peter Hurley. Or even Lord Hurley, I’m not sure.”
“Should I even bother asking?” Jo sighed.
“Oh Jo, I don’t know what happened. I met Nancy at the museum and I was going to tell her about us right away. But she seemed so happy to see me and I couldn’t find the right moment. And then she started in about how this guy was perfect for me and she didn’t want me to be alone and wasn’t it time that I settled down and started a family And that, with his connections, our kids could get into the best schools and that his country home in the Cotwolds was next to theirs. Honestly, she had planned out this whole life for me and...”
“Hello, earth to Blair: you aren’t alone- you have settled down. You live with someone who, against her better judgment, can’t exist without you.” Jo pulled the phone closer and lowered her voice. “And who, according to assurances given just last night, is someone who gets you so wet and so hot and makes you co...”
“Jo! Really!” Blair exclaimed, mortified.
“Well?”
“I know. But I didn’t know what to do. I mean Nancy is one of my oldest friends. I just couldn’t disappoint her. Please don’t be mad. Just let me get through this dinner and I promise that will be the end of it.”
“Blair, I’m not mad and, as always, you’re gonna do what you wanna do.” Jo said calmly.
“That’s it?” replied Blair suspiciously. “No outbursts, no rages, no rants?”
“Well,” said Jo. “I do think it is a little tacky of Roger to pimp you to his client. On the other hand, maybe you deserve some flirtation time with the male sex.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means, Blair, that ever since we got together you haven’t dated men. Obviously. And you are really good at dating men. Among the best ever. You‘ve been deprived of exercising your natural talent. It is sorta like a race horse harnessed to a milk cart,” Jo explained.
“Jo, I have no idea what you are babbling about.”
“Sure you do. What I’m saying is that I’m good with you showing off your coquette chops and having some innocent fun with old friends.”
“Thanks, I guess.” Blair said uncertainly.
“Just don’t leave me for some foppish Brit, OK?”
“Not likely, sweetheart,” Blair growled.
“Your Bogart is terrible.”
“It was supposed to be Jimmy Cagney.”
“Oh.”
**********
“Hey Nat, it’s me.”
“Hi Jo, how’s it hanging?”
"Good. Look, I know it’s short notice but I was wondering if you wanted to grab a bite tonight.”
Natalie took the phone to her couch and sat down. “Jo, Jo, Jo. You assume that Natalie Greene, high powered CNN journalist, confidant to the rich and powerful-- best friend to Broadway sensation Dorothy Ramsey, currently wowing them as Cosette in Les Miz-- would have nothing better to do on a Saturday night than to ‘grab a bite’ with a surly New York City police detective and her conceited Park Avenue girlfriend?”
“Yeah” Jo replied, wondering idly why everyone liked to chant her name three times.
“Well you would be right.” Natalie said. “Where are we going?”
“Racini’s. And it’s just the two of us. Sorta. I’d better explain.”
**********
So let me make sure I have this straight,” said Natalie, as the two women walked up Madison. “We are going there to check up on Roger, Nancy, your lover Blair and her date. But we can’t let them see us. What are we going to do, disguise ourselves as busboys?”
“We’ll sit in the booths by the bar,” Jo explained. “They’ll be at the tables in the back.”
“So how are we going to get the dirt?”
“There is no dirt, Nat. I don’t know. I just want to be there in case something happens.”
“With Blair and this Englishman? Are you nuts?” Natalie scoffed.
“No. Of course not. I mean I told Blair it was fine and it is, but it’s with Nancy and Roger, who I never liked and don’t really trust. I just want to be around. I can’t explain it really.”
“It’s simple.” Natalie said confidently. “You’re feeling left out. I mean there’s Blair, your best friend and the love of your life, off with her former best friend and her husband, who, by the way, Blair also dated. I can see why you are a little jealous. But I gotta tell you Jo, based on the years I’ve known them both, I can pretty much guarantee that Nancy and Blair have never had any sexual feelings towards each other.”
“Ick,” said Jo.
“I know,” said Natalie. “Get that image out of my head.”
“Anyway,” Natalie continued. “It’s just like Eastland or that reunion at Beverly Ann’s. You’re afraid of missing something.”
“Am I really still sixteen?” queried Jo, somewhat sadly.
“We all are,” assured Natalie. “The fear of exclusion is the most powerful force on earth. Ask Tootie.”
The women arrived at the corner and walked down the stairs into the softly lighted restaurant.
“Good evening, Detective, how nice to see you.” The dark haired host greeted them smoothly.
“Hi Charles. Do you have a booth by the bar?” Jo asked.
“Of course, but won’t you be joining Ms. Warner? Her party is in the back.”
“Oh. Uh. No thanks. Um. She has a business thing. Natalie and I just came in for a quick supper. No need to bother her. Uh. OK?”
“Naturally,” Charles said with a quirk of his eyebrow. “Let me take your coats and I will send your waiter right over.”
**********
“I don’t think this is going to work, Jo. I can’t see their table.”
Jo and Natalie were at a booth, sipping glasses of red wine and sharing a plate of bread and olives.
“If you crane your head this way, you can catch the reflection in that mirror.” Jo demonstrated, twisting her neck and shoulders sharply and leaning over the side of the booth.
“Oh, that’s not conspicuous.” Natalie snickered.
“Do you need anything, Detective Polniaczek?” Charles hurried over to their table.
“Oh. Heh. No thanks. Just getting the blood moving. Long day in the squad car.”
Natalie giggled. “Here, let me try, Sherlock. I have a better angle.”
“Fine. What do you see?” Jo asked irritably.
“There they are. Nancy has her back to us. Hey, Roger looks pretty good. Still has his hair. Blair is sitting between him and another guy. He is cute in a wispy ‘Brideshead Revisited’ kind of way. Not really my type, but Blair always did have a thing for Jeremy Irons. She saw ‘Reversal of Fortune’ three times. Rich blonde woman in a coma, you wouldn’t have thought it appealed.”
“Focus, Natalie,” Jo muttered.
“Right. Blair is talking. Quelle surprise. She is smiling, waving her hands. Nothing new there. Wait...wait ...is it?... yes, it is!... The hair flip! Oh Jo, you are in trouble.”
“Funny, Greene, funny.”
Natalie slumped back into her seat as the waiter brought their entrees. “All right, Copper, how long is the stake out?”
Suddenly feeling ridiculous, Jo snarled. “Let’s just eat.”
Natalie looked fondly at her brooding friend. “It’s all right Jo. I understand.”
Jo shrugged and toyed with her broccoli rabe.
After a moment Natalie asked gently. “So, other than the fact you’ve taken to stalking her, is everything good between you two?”
At that Jo looked up and gave Natalie one of her rare but radiant smiles.
“Great, actually. Really great. I sometimes have to pinch myself. I didn’t tell you, Nat. We are looking at buying a brownstone.”
“You’re kidding!” Natalie exclaimed.
“No. It’s a fixer-upper on the West Side near the Park. It needs a lot of work but it’s beautiful. You should see the molding. A good deal, according to Blair’s dad. Three stories. There’s a garden in the back with a place to store my bike and room for a guest apartment upstairs where you and Tootie could live out your declining years.”
“Blair is willing to leave Park Avenue? Hard to believe.”
“I know,” Jo agreed. “I guess I do have some influence. But it would be a real house we could fix up together.”
“Is there room for a nursery?” Natalie asked slyly.
Jo actually blushed. “We’ve talked about it,” she admitted. “But I want to wait a year or two until I make Lieutenant.”
“Why? You and Warner can’t swing it on your detective’s salary and her $89 million?”
“It’s not that, smartass. A promotion means that I would be directing investigations. Not so much on the front lines, if you know what I mean. Less chance that something could happen.”
“Jo, that’s so morbid.” Natalie shuddered.
“Hey. If we’re gonna do this, we’re gonna to do it right. Two parents in the same house raising the kid together. That’s what neither of us had and that’s what both of us want.” Jo declared firmly.
“You girls.” Natalie chortled. “Did I tell you lately how adorable you are?”
“Yeah, yeah. Lemme have a bite of the piccata”. Jo poked her fork at Natalie’s plate.
“Hey!” Natalie swatted Jo away playfully as she refilled their wine glasses.
********** (end of part 1)