Day walked back into the office with his seventh cup of steaming black coffee in his hand. Their team should be filing in shortly, except Ruxs and Green, they’d been interrogating all night – more like intimidating – their latest arrest, so they probably wouldn’t be in until later.
He pushed through the doors and saw God leaning back in his chair, his mouth hanging open, asleep. Day was glad no one else was there to see it. He set his cup down on his desk, eyeing God’s wide lap, wishing he could sit down on it and relieve some of his own stress. Instead, he walked over and cupped God’s cheek, the coarse brownish-blond hairs scraping his palm. God cracked one green eye open, looking up at him. When he opened both of them, Day saw the redness from exhaustion. “You’ve got to get some sleep or you’ll be useless. You had about three hours the night before last. You can’t function like this, you know it’s dangerous.”
“I know. Let’s wait for the DA to call with the judge’s decision and see what it’ll mean for our case. Then we’ll break for a bit and come back.” God scrubbed his eyes and sat back up just as Syn came through the door.
“We know anything yet?” Syn said as his good morning.
“No. You know judges don’t rush for anyone. We should know by nine or nine thirty today, if defense counsel doesn’t try to get another continuance,” Day answered, checking his watch for the fifth time. At seven thirty, Tech and Steele came walking into the office, looking a lot more rested than the lieutenants. Tech in camel-colored jeans and a soft-looking sweater, like it came from one of those popular college student stores, Abercrombie or American Eagle; his black 9mm on his hip looking like an out-of-place accessory. Steele wore a black long-john that had a few tattered holes at the bottom and a pair of low-riding jeans. “You two look happy this morning.”
Tech shrugged but failed to hide his bashful smile or faint blush. He was obviously enjoying his new responsibilities and being out in the field. God still didn’t let him go on the rides that could potentially become dangerous – like last night’s – but he’d gained a lot of knowledge in a short period of time and there’d been no more mishaps.
Tech sat at his desk and powered on his systems. Steele didn’t even try to act like he wasn’t dick-whipped already as he stuck close to Tech, standing over him while he got ready to start his day.
Day shook his head, looking between the two of them. The start of a new romance. He was happy for Tech, he was. Day noticed a lot, and he hadn’t missed the longing in Tech over the years to have a partner, someone to take his mind off the day-to-day rigors of the job.
“Where are Ruxs and Green?” Tech asked.
“They’ll be back later. As soon as we get some answers, we’ll be gone too, but everyone be here at one for a meeting. It’s more than likely God, Syn and I will have to leave the jurisdiction for this case, so make sure whatever you got on your calendar for today is wrapped up by then.” Tech and Steele both nodded, still unable to wipe the cheesy grins from their faces.
“Good lord,” God grumbled, waking up his monitor like he wanted to look at anything but them.
Steele
How was he supposed to keep his hands off of Tech for the entire day? Their morning was nice, no sex, just the domestic experience of dressing for work together, eating a light breakfast, and a slow, lingering kiss to last them through the day before commuting to the precinct together. Steele ended up staying at Tech’s at least four nights a week, which still wasn’t enough for him. He liked what they had, what they were building. Nights of dinner and talking, movies, video games – which he sucked at, but didn’t mind losing – and long, steamy nights in bed. Steele wasn’t sure if Tech was feeling the same way, but he loved the whole idea of having a life with one man, sharing everything. He’d watched Ruxs and Green doing it and had wondered in the back of his mind the entire time if that’d ever be him.
“Hey.”
Steele’s thoughts slammed to a halt when he heard Tech’s voice beside him. “Yeah.”
“Get to your desk; I’m going to load up your map quiz.” Tech grinned.
Steele rubbed his hand over the short strands on his head. “Now?”
“Yes, now. What else are you doing, besides sitting there daydreaming?”
“That’s what I was thinking.” Day pffted from his own desk, throwing Steele an irritated look.
It was quiet in the office while they waited for answers. God wasn’t going to put them on the streets to dig into any new cases until he knew what the rest of their month was looking like.