Nick Knight was currently thanking any possible god that there may be for the fact that the chief (seriously, bless that man) had given him a night off work before saddling him with a new partner. His previous partner, Don Schanke, had just transferred to the day shift and was inheriting said new partner's own previous partner.
At the moment, both men were sitting outside the dance studio where Schanke's daughter, Jenny, would be leaving class shortly and drinking copious amounts of coffee. Nick was downing the stuff because he was back on shift this evening and had - naturally - spent the day unable to fall asleep, whereas Schanke was trying to get his energy levels up enough to handle the four year old tornado that was very shortly to blow through the door.
"Enjoying the father-daughter time yet?" Nick asked, glancing at his friend out of the corner of his eye and grinning into his coffee as Schanke's expression brightened.
"It's definitely different," the older man replied, his voice cheerful. "I've gotten so used to waking her up in the morning before face-planting into bed and seeing her for about a minute before heading to work that it'll take me a bit to get used to coming home around the same time as her and actually getting to spent time with my girls."
Nick's grin turned into something a bit playful as he asked, "So Myra's happy about your transfer, then?" He snickered at Schanke's serious expression, and laughed when his friend couldn't maintain the stern look for more than ten seconds before grinning himself.
"Let's just say the possibility of Jenny getting that little brother or sister she's been asking for since her last birthday has significantly increased" was all Schanke had to say on the subject. "But I do love getting some one-on-one Jenny time. I'm thinking of taking her to the park tomorrow afternoon. I'll be off around two or so, and Jenny's preschool lets out at three. Right now she loves the idea of me getting to go to all the places she usually goes to with Mommy."
The younger man nodded, taking another sip of coffee. "Sounds like a fun afternoon," he remarked. "While you two are out, maybe Myra and I will fool around a little." He actually choke on his drink when Schanke slowly turned to give him an unamused look and backtracked quickly. "Sorry, sorry, that was a joke. A really, really bad joke."
Schanke maintained the expression for another thirty seconds before breaking into a grin. "Yeah, it was pretty bad, Nicky. Especially since Myra's nowhere near your type."
Nick blinked and felt his expression go blank for a moment. "What do you mean?" he asked. "Myra's gorgeous."
"Myra's also a bit too female for your tastes," the older man replied. He snickered at his former partner's gobsmacked expression before adding, "Seriously, Nick, it doesn't take a detective to figure out that you prefer your significant others to be of the masculine persuasion."
"I've dated women!" the younger immediately protested, feeling his face heat up. "Tons, actually."
Schanke gave him the same 'cut the bullshit' expression that was generally reserved for perps they questioned back at the station. "The last woman I know you dated was Natalie Lambert from the coroner's office," he said, "and that was five years ago. I also remember you saying she was the wrong kind of crazy for you to deal with, shortly after which you introduced her to your best friend from the radio station."
Nick deflated and gave Schanke a pout that he knew didn't really help his argument any. "In my defense, Lucien's crazy meshes pretty damned well with Nat's."
"Thank God I won't ever have to listen to those radio shows again," Schanke sighed. "I pity your new partner. I get the feeling the first time she hears the 'Night Crawler'," and yep, there were the air quotes, "she'll insist on driving to the radio station and putting him out of everyone's misery."
Nick snorted. "And get away with it. Seriously, though, Schank, who did I piss off in a past life to get saddled with the Commissioner's daughter for my new partner?"
"Everybody," the older man replied dryly. Anything else he would have said was cut off by the door opening and several four to six year olds pouring out; a tiny brunette with a curly pixie cut darted out between two taller girls and raced over to the bench to climb on Schanke's lap with an enthusiastic "Papa!"
"Hey, princess," Nick said, grinning as Jenny turned a bright smile his way. "How was class?"
"Fun, Uncle Nick," the little girl replied even as she cuddled into her father's lap. "We learned to pri-oh-et today!"
Schanke chuckled and kissed his girl's hair. "Then you'll definitely have to show me and Mommy tonight, yeah?" Jenny nodded, and the man stood easily, hefting the girl on his hip and turning to his friend. "Well, we'll be headed off then. Good luck tonight, Nick."
Nick stood as well and smiled at his friend. "Thanks, Schank. I might just need it."
16 January 2014
I'm not sure what, if anything, Katsuko wants said here, but here is her half of the prologue to CSI: Toronto.
I will say that we both love Schanke and actively sought out a way to keep him alive for this AU 'verse. Switching to day shit to spend more time with Myra and Jenny works as far as we're concerned.
See you in the next chapter!
Apollymi (for Katsuko)