"Javier?" Tracy asked, the word little more than a whine at this point. The pair of them had been moving boxes for hours now. Thankfully, though, they were on the last load. It had been one hell of a day - and in just a few hours, they were both supposed to report in for work.
"Yeah?" If there was any consolation to be had here, it was the fact that he sound every bit as tired as she felt. Tonight at work was going to be a slice of raw hell, she could see that now.
"Your next boyfriend is going to have to move in with us. I am not moving you again."
He shrugged slightly, like the small movement hurt. That would be his own fault for trying to do all the heavy lifting. At least this was the last of the boxes, she reminded herself; their SUV wasn't going to hold much more. "If it makes it any better, he's already seeing someone else."
If she wasn't as exhausted as she was, she probably would have growled. As it was, she managed a groan. "He'd better hope he doesn't run into me when I'm drunk." Or behind the wheel of a car. Or carrying her service weapon. Or, well, at all. It wasn't like it would be the first time she had beaten one of his exes, like it wasn't like he hadn't done the same to one of of these days - or nights now, she supposed - people were going to learn not to cross the pair of them.
She started, just a bit, as he slammed the SUV's cargo area closed. "If it wasn't your first night on graveyard shift, I'd say call out tonight," he commented dryly. With no more than a gesture from him, she dug the keys out of her jeans pocket and tossed them over to him. If he thought he was in better shape to drive, she wasn't going to argue. "How long until you're due in?"
She checked her watch and groaned again. "Three hours." It would be just long enough to unload the SUV back at the house, both of them grab much needed showers, eat, and head in to work. Personally, going to sleep for about two full days sounded good to her, but that wasn't going to be happening now, more was the shame. Besides... "It's not like you can call out anyway, Javi. You haven't even been at this job two weeks yet."
And she wasn't sure if it was the hand of fate or the hand of having a police commissioner for a father that had gotten her transfer to night shift pushed through so quickly. As it had turned out, there had been a detective looking to transfer to days to spend more time with his kid or something. It had worked out well enough for them to permanently switch shifts, him inheriting her former partner and her getting his.
Not that she could remember the name of the guy she had switched with or the name of the guy who was going to be her partner starting tonight right now. In fact, right now, she wasn't too sure she remembered her own name. Javier probably wasn't much better; he probably didn't remember the name of the ex he'd just broken off with... and it wasn't like she was going to commit it to memory at this point. For now, he would just have to be Mister Formerly A Seven.
Maybe they could both catch a break and it be a quiet night in both the morgue and the station. Of course, now she had just jinxed them both and they'd both be slammed.
Well, either way, they'd handle it. They were good at that after all.
06 January 2014
This is the first story I finished for 2014. I waited to upload it, however, until Katsuko finished Prologue A.
Yes, it is an all-human AU. Yes, there may be police procedural stuff if I can find my reference books for that. Yes, it likely will contain slash. Yes, it is me writing, so it will focus more on characters than actions. And yes, I made Tracy and Vachon into step-siblings; I always got more of a big brother-little sister vibe from them than actual romance.
See you in the next part!
Apollymi