Obstinate...
Opinionated...
Condescending...
Insufferable...
Inconsiderate...
Hypocritical...
Pig.
The sound of her own voice yelling these words in Chris Larabee’s face still rang in her ears. //And the looks on the faces of the others.// Mary Travis snorted at the memory.
Every sound, every movement in the office had stopped when Chris had thrown open his office door and marched into the outer office on the way to the elevator. Every mouth had dropped open when she had stormed after him and somehow managed to plant herself in his way. She wasn’t done with him damnit and he was going to listen. And he had too. At least he had stood there.
//Okay, maybe pig was over the top// Mary conceded. When it had left her mouth, his team — Buck, Vin, Ezra, JD, Josiah and Nathan — about came over their desks to get to the black clad leader before he exploded. Mary remembered seeing Buck and Vin's eyes pleading with her to get out before it was too late. They looked genuinely frightened for her. But, she knew she wasn't in physical danger — Chris would never intentionally hurt her. And besides she was so damn mad, even if she had been, she wouldn't of cared.
Mary smiled slightly to herself. //He always walks off in the middle of an argument, but not this time.// Sobering, another thought hit her. //So why doesn't it feel any different?// Groaning, Mary rubbed her tired eyes.
She remembered hearing JD whisper something about 'smokin'. Yeah, she had been a little hot under the collar. Storming out of the federal building and into the parking garage, her heels had tapped out an angry staccato on the way to the car. Jumping into it, she had turned more than a few heads with the squealing tires.
The blaring of a car horn and the realization that she had just run a red light brought Mary to her senses. Shaking at how close she had come to being in an accident, she pulled into the closest parking lot. Looking up, she was faced with banner of the Denver Museum of Natural History. //Why not... it's not like I'm going to get any work done this afternoon anyway.// Making up her mind, she pulled into the first parking spot she could find and jumped out. Slamming the door, she halfway listened for the sound of the horn telling her she had locked it on her way to the door.
Roaming through the displays, Mary found her mind wondering back to the earlier scene and the argument that had led up to it over and over. //It wasn't an unusual request... all I wanted was to borrow a wig from the department. Since when did that become a federal offense?// Mary snorted shaking her head.
"No... you've got no business going in there..." Chris had said adamantly, slamming the file drawer before turning and crossing his arms in front of himself.
Mary was desperate. While researching for an expose about fraud in the foster care system, Mary had received an email from an adolescent girl who was being abused in a group home. The young woman had tried everything to escape but the state had said their wasn't enough proof to remove her.
Since then, Mary had spent a very frustrating two weeks trying to gather information by knocking on doors that kept slamming in her face and bumping into bureaucratic walls. Something about this youngster had touched her. She was determined to help her.
"But Chris... this girl says she can help me get proof... detailed records. If I can get my hands on them, I've got them. The state will have to intercede and close that hell hole of a foster home down."
Shaking his head, Chris didn't seem swayed by her plea. "Your face is in the paper every week. What makes you think you're not going to be recognized?"
"That's why I want to borrow the wig... It's only for a couple of days..."
"No. It's still too dangerous. You don't know what these people will do. If you're right and they have been abusing the kids and making thousand of dollars in false expense claims, then they are facing hard time. There's no way to know how they are going to react if they catch you. It could be dangerous."
//That's rich coming from a man who has to have bullet holes repaired in his clothing virtually every week.// "Oh I see how it is," Mary retorted sarcastically. "I can't go in because is might be a little risky but it's okay for you
"That's different... It's my job..." Chris started defensively.
"And this is mine," she countered, cutting him off. Watching Chris' immediate reaction, Mary could tell he had made up his mind that she wasn't going to do this. At the same time, Mary's determination that she was going to do it grew.
Then he did it... he pushed the final button. He pulled out a certain parental voice... the voice parents use to placate children they think are being petulant. When he said "Now Mary... " in that voice, that was it. Mary went ballistic.
Fire flashed in her eyes as she hissed, "Don't you 'now Mary' me. I'm going in with or without your help!"
Chris' eyes became like steel. His voice grew icy and hard. "You are not
The 'discussion' had deteriorated from there.
Pausing to rub the back of her neck, Mary leaned momentarily against the door jam turning unfocused eyes on the display case beside her. She couldn't even remember what she had said after that or what he had said before he stormed out. All she knew was that he had picked the wrong day to say it.
The laughter emanating from an approaching group of children distracted Mary's thoughts. They ranged between 7 to 10 years of age. Watching them, she suddenly wished she could be that age again... to go back to a time when things weren't so complicated. //When people didn't ask you to sacrifice yourself for them.// Shaking herself, she forced her legs to move on. There was no sense wishing for things that could never be.
Coming around the corner, Mary stopped in her tracks. In front of her was a full size, Siberian tiger on a pedestal. He was fully stretched out — like someone had stopped time and somehow captured this magnificent creature as it sprang for the final kill. As fabulous as the display was, it was the cat's eyes that immobilized her.
She had seen those eyes before. That focus. That burning intensity. The power that promised annihilation should he so chose to do so. They reminded her of Chris' eyes. A chill swept up her spine.
"Ma'am? Are you all right?"
The strange voice penetrated the fog that had enveloped Mary's mind. "Huh?" she startled. Realizing a security guard was standing beside her, Mary blinked several times before asking "Is something wrong?"
"Ma'am, the museum closed twenty minutes ago. I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave," the man explained kindly.
Shocked, Mary shoved her sleeve back to look at her watch. //That late? Oh my God, Billy... I was suppose to have picked him up hours ago.// "I'm sorry. I seemed to have lost track of time," she said hurriedly gathering up her coat.
Slipping into the cold dark air, Mary buttoned her coat while she glanced up at the sky that was showering the world with snowflakes. Lowering her eyes, Mary groaned when she realized there was a familiar black pickup sitting in front of her car. //Oh Chris... I don't want to fight with you anymore.//
As she neared the vehicles, Chris got out and waited. She could hear him talking to someone on his cellular. "I found her. Tell the others and cancel the APB." After a short pause, he snorted derisively. "Right. Tell her
Coming to a halt a few feet from the man now standing at the front fender of her car, Mary nervously waited. After a few moments, Chris broke the silence.
"You okay?"
Nodding a little too quickly, Mary tried to smile. "Sure... I'm fine." The minute it left her mouth, she knew it was a mistake. He knew her well enough to know that when she said that, she was anything but 'fine.'
Silence again descended. Not quite able to look at him, Mary tried to make an escape. "Well.... I.... really should go. I should have picked up Billy hours ago," she said haltingly, taking a few steps closer to her car and jingling her keys.
"He's with Buck and JD," Chris quietly said. After questioning eyes were raised to him, he clarified. "When you didn't show up, the school tried to get a hold of Orrin. Since he and Evie are in Aspen this week, they called me."
"But why didn't they just call me," Mary asked absentmindedly reaching in her coat pocket to see if the battery was dead on her phone. Not finding it, she stopped and spotted the answer to her own question. "Because it's on the front seat isn't it." It was a rhetorical question as she could see it laying on the passenger seat where someone, presumably Chris, had brushed the snow off the window.
Glancing at him, Mary murmured "thank you" while silently thanking Orrin for insisting she put Chris down as an alternative emergency contact with the school. She never thought she would use him though.
"Well then, I better go get him there," she tried again, putting the key in the lock. "The last time he stayed over there, he had a stomach ache for two days from all the candy they let him...."
Chris' voice interrupted her nervous rattling. "Mary... I'm sorry. You were right. I have no right to tell you what to do. It's just that..." Chris paused, looking at the still form in front of him. When she finally turned her head to look at him, he continued softly. "It's just that I hate the thought of anything happening to you."
Mary appreciated how hard it was for this man to express the confession that had just been rung out of him. Turning towards him, Mary laid her hand on his chest. "I know," she softly intoned. Looking up with somber eyes, she continued. "I hadn't known you very long before I realized how dangerous your job really was. And I hate it. I cringe every time there is going to be a take down, because your going to be in the thick of it. I know you could be hurt or killed at anytime. As much as I want to ask you — tell you — to not do it, I know that I can't. It isn't just a job for you. It represents everything you believe in... everything you are. Asking you to stop being a cop would be like asking you to stop being Chris Larabee."
Seeing the appreciation of her insight in his eyes, Mary took it one step farther. "I'm the same way. Being an investigative reporter is what I am. If I believe that something can be changed for the better because of my work, I have to do it. Asking me... or telling me... that I can't is like telling me I can't be me. And if that's the only condition under which our relationship will work, then the price is too high Chris. I can't do it."
Slowly rubbing his hands up and down Mary's arms, Chris watched the snowflakes fluttering down for a few moments before he looked back at the woman standing in front of him. //Ah hell... I never meant that or to hurt her so much. It's a wonder she didn't shoot you on sight Larabee.// When he spoke, he tried to cover the emotions he was feeling by injecting a lightness of his voice. "Well, if you're going in, you're going in by the book... wired and with back up."
Relief flooded through Mary. Those few words spoke volumes to her. Breaking into a smile, Mary didn't resist when Chris pulled her to him and captured her mouth with his. The kiss was both tender and passionate, an apology for what had been said and a promise of things to come.
"Come on. With the roads getting slick, why don't you leave your car here and I'll give you a ride home," he said, tenderly brushing the snowflakes out of her hair.
"If it's that slick mister you shouldn't be driving all the way to your ranch," she countered good naturedly.
"Well then," he sighed as if making a huge concession, "I guess I'll just have to stay at your place again."
Grinning at him, Mary teased him further. "I suppose this means you're going to hog the bed."
"Well, if you would get a real bed," he said mischievously, hugging her. This had been a running joke between the two since they had become intimate. It had taken him some time to adjust to sleeping with Mary in her queen size bed since he was used to sleeping alone in a king size bed.
Pulling back, Mary remembered her earlier thoughts. "Chris, about those things I said earlier.... about calling you a pig...."
"That was below the belt now," Chris said lightly, letting his tone take the sting out of the words.
"I know... I sorry," she said, brushing her lips against his lightly. "Beside, I was wrong. You're not a pig."
"Thank you," he broke in, mock self-righteousness in his voice.
".... you're a feline," Mary finished, deciding she wouldn't tell him until later what type of feline reminded her of him.
Chris' laughter rumbled through the cold air. "A cat, eh. Well then, are you going to at least rub my back and make me purr?"
Pushing her body against him, Mary purred seductively. "Here kitty, kitty."
The end
P.S. In case your wondering, the Siberian Tiger does exist inside the Denver Museum of Natural History and he is gorgeous.
IMO, a must see if you get a chance!
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