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Mark
“Welcome to Casa de Herman.” Mark opened the front door a few hours later. They’d swung by her dad’s place and had dinner, as she’d requested.
Darby entered and looked around. “You’ve either gotten cleaner or hired a service.”
He half-smiled. “Mom and Moira came over and cleaned up. I heard rumors they even raided Melinda’s closet for you. The pants may be a bit long, but she’s closest to your size.”
Darby nodded absently. “Thank them.”
“I already have.” He stepped fully in and swung the door closed, then secured the system behind him. It wasn’t as sophisticated as Darby’s, but it did its job.
They were both quiet, just standing there for a long minute.
As if things hadn’t been awkward enough between them...He’d had to insist she come stay with him. Was he being selfish? Or just cautious? He wasn’t entirely sure. After the chat the night before with Melinda, and then everything that had happened that day, he desperately wanted to keep Darby close, maybe even force that talk they’d been putting off.
To prove himself to her.
He picked up her bag from where he’d tossed it moments earlier. “Come on, let’s get you settled. It’s been a long day.”
She nodded, and turned toward the living room.
“You’re not sleeping on the couch,” he said.
“I’m not sleeping in your bed.” She seemed appalled he’d even suggested it, as though it was the only place to sleep in his home.
“You are, but I’ll be in the extra bedroom, Darb.”
Relief passed through her eyes. “I don’t want to kick you out of your room.”
“You’re not. I want you to be as comfortable as possible. The master will offer more privacy.”
She frowned, then gave a hesitant nod.
He led her back to his room and gave it an appraising look. Ma and Moira had been busy and had tidied the living space, but it was still an obvious bachelor pad. The bedroom was no different. New sheets had been placed on the bed, and the piles of clothes put away.
Maybe he’d have to ask his mother and youngest sister to come in more often.
He deposited Darby’s backpack on the corner of the king-sized bed, then noticed her focus on his dresser.
He’d left one of his holo-discs on that morning, and it was flashing pictures from a family get-together. He crossed and shut it off before it could start showing images of her his sisters had put on the disc, then turned back to her. “You want to grab a shower, everything’s in the bathroom. Let me know if you need something. If I don’t have it, I can run to the store.”
She nodded slowly. “I’ll be fine.”
To his estimation, she looked like she needed a hug or something, but here, in his most private quarters, he didn’t dare touch her. She was already scared to death, and he’d done enough damage with her earlier in the day.
Her comm rang.
“Do you mind if I take this?” she said.
He waved a hand. “I’ll be around.”
He made his way out to the garage to stay out of her way. The dollhouse wasn’t going to finish itself.
About twenty minutes later, she stepped down into the garage and took a turn around the dollhouse. “Wow, that’s really amazing work, Mark. Did you build this, or is it a kit?”
He reached for a hammer and the small nails he used on the shingles. “All my work, all my design, even down to the wallpaper, though that came from a sample book.”
When he turned around, she’d crouched in front of the open side and was peering in. “I’ve only seen something like this in movies or magazines. You could do this instead of being a detective.”
He gently moved her aside so he could finish the row of shingles he’d started. “If it were my job, I don’t think it would be near as relaxing.”
She stood, hands jammed into her back pockets now. “I’m really impressed.”
He eyeballed the placement of the last two shingles. “You said that already.”
“Well, it’s true.”
He double-checked the spot, then gently started tapping a nail. “Thanks, Darb.”
He smiled to himself. She’d never seen any of the other dollhouses he’d made. In fact, this was the first one he’d done since she’d been partnered with him. His sisters had had boys for several years before Moira’s youngest ended up being a girl.
He hadn’t realized Darby had no clue about his hobby. But his heart expanded with pride as she gaped in awe at his masterpiece.
It also broke a little to think that she’d probably never had a dollhouse as a little girl. What had she been like as a child? Surely not as carefree as his nieces were...
She took another turn around the house, around him. “How many of these have you made?”
“This is for my youngest niece, and I’ve made one for each of my nieces.” He tapped the last shingle into place, then ran his finger over the edge to see if it lined up with the edge of the house itself. There was a small lip, but nothing that couldn’t be fixed with his final sanding.
“Wow. You have a lot of nieces, too.”
They were quiet for several minutes, other than the gentle tapping of hammer to nail as Mark put more shingles on the roof.
“I think I owe you an apology,” she said without preamble as he finished the next row.
He flicked his eyes toward her, then back to his work. “For what?”
“I was pretty harsh when you said you wanted me to stay here.”
He grunted. It was about damn time she started making some apologies. Couldn’t she see he was only trying to protect her? Not just because they were partners, either? But because he loved her?
He tossed a mismeasured shingle back to the bench. “Yeah, you were.”
She ground her teeth audibly. “Well, I’m sorry.”
He stood and looked at her. “Okay.”
She paused a beat. “We’re okay then?”
“On that front, yes.”
Her eyes widened. “On that front? Is there another front we’re not fine on?”
He stared at her a long moment. “You know what I’m talking about, Darb.”
Her comm rang.
He muffled a sigh. “You’d better get that.”
She hesitated a moment, then slipped it over her ear. “Hello?”
William’s holo image sprang to life in front of her.
Mark wanted to ignore the two, but couldn’t.
What was more, even though she didn’t have it on full holo mode, he could hear everything William said.
“Hey, Darby. I heard there was an incident at your apartment. Something about a break-in. Everything okay?”
“It will be. Eventually. Thanks for calling to check on me.”
“Are you being allowed to return to your place?”
Mark walked over to the workbench and grabbed a small saw, trying to figure out why he could hear Young. The speaker had to be deafening in her ear.
Darby chuckled mirthlessly. “I wish.”
“A hotel then? Do you need some company?”
She smiled and laughed again. “No, no. I’m...I’m staying with another detective from my unit.”
Another detective from her unit? What was this? Was she embarrassed to tell Doctor Pretty Boy that she was staying with her partner? With the man who had walked in on them earlier in the day?
Mark had half a mind to interrupt them but resisted.
“Most of your unit is male.”
“Yeah, it is.” Something in Darby’s tone made Mark glance back at her. She was giving Will a look that said he’d better stop that line of inquiry.
Well, at least she wasn’t fully going to melt into a puddle every time she talked to him.
“Do you need some time away? Get your mind off things?”
She relaxed.
Mark went back to his work.
“That would be nice. But I’m really just done for tonight. It’s been a rough day.”
“Rough days need to have the edges smoothed off. I’ve got some techniques that could help. But I’d have to show them to you in person.”
Yeesh. And Darby had been worried about him putting the moves on her. She really needed to worry about William!
She giggled, more girlishly than Mark had ever heard from her before. “Maybe you could describe them, and I could imagine them. I do have you on holo. It’s almost as good as having you right here.”
“There are things I can only do in person, though.”
Mark picked up his hammer, narrowly avoiding hitting his thumb as he tapped the next shingle into place. Under his breath, he muttered, “Jeez, you two. Get a room.”
“Sorry, Will, just a sec. I’m going to put you on mute.” Darby fiddled with her comm, then said, “Mark, did you say something?”
He glanced at her and forced a carefree smile. “Just talking to myself. This dollhouse, you know?”
“Right.” She frowned, and looked like she wanted to say more. Then she tapped her comm again. “Hey, Will? I’m going to have to let you go.”
“Are you sure? I could come by and get you. We could go out for a drink or two.”
“As nice as that sounds, I’m sure. I’ll see you tomorrow, though.”
Thank goodness. They were getting done.
Why had she insisted on staying out there, knowing he’d hear everything? He’d been working for a while, it wasn’t like he was just going to pick up and leave. He had ten days before the birthday party. He had to get this house done.
And why, after everything Mark had said, done for her, had she been blatantly flirting with William in front of him?
Maybe it was as the man had insinuated in their earlier conversation: Mark had moved too slowly. Darby had already started developing an affection for the psychologist, and Mark’s timing was bad.
“Were you trying to say something?” Darby asked a minute later. She rose and stalked toward him.
He shook his head. He wanted to tell her to wise up. He wanted to tell her she was jumping without looking where William was concerned. He wanted to beg her—again—to look him in the eye and tell him she didn’t love him.
But he said none of it. “Just that if you’re going to be on the comm, you may want to take it inside. I’m going to be banging around out here for a while.”
She scowled. “I shouldn’t be—”
“Look, it made the news, what happened today.” He put his hammer down and turned to her. “Your friends are going to be calling. I get it. I’m trying to tell you that it’s okay for you to go inside.”
“My phone is not—”
It rang.
She sighed heavily.
“Go ahead. But take it inside.”
“We’re not done talking.”
“Your friends deserve to know you’re okay.”
She stared at him a long moment, then finally tapped the comm on her ear. “Hello?”
She turned to go inside as a holo projection of Celia Mendez sprang to life.
Mark worked, trying to push the musings of the night from his thoughts.
But thinking about everything that had gone down that day couldn’t be helped, either. His mind drifted as he slowly tapped shingles into place. The case. What Richard Pierce had told them.
Darby.
How had he not known he caused her pain? Could that be the entire reason behind her resisting him so long? If that was the case, how did they get over it? Or was it something that would hold them perpetually at bay?
He’d wondered for a long time what being intimate with her would be like. Knew it wasn’t something likely to come up in the near future. Darby had rules about such things, and he was pretty sure she was about as old-fashioned as they came.
Finding out would mean rings, ceremonies, and a probable name change on her part.
Mark glanced at the door to the house. While he couldn’t hear her words, he could hear occasional giggles from inside. He wondered if she realized how much she’d needed the release only laughter could give today.
How could this work with her?
First, he’d have to divert her attention from William Young, that was for certain. He couldn’t figure out what she saw in him. Okay, Mark was man enough to admit that Young was what some might call attractive.
But he oozed sliminess. There was just something about him Mark couldn’t put his finger on that made him think there was more going on. Young had been on the job exactly three days and had started putting moves on Darby on Day One.
Didn’t most people like to get settled into a job first—especially when they’d moved long distance—before they started playing the local field? Shouldn’t they get the lay of the land first?
Mark sighed and stepped back to look over his work.
He’d finished as much as he was going to get done. It was a little after ten. He packed up, went inside, and motioned to Darby he was going to grab a shower.
She nodded.
When he got out, her comm was nowhere to be seen and she was sitting on the couch.
“Sorry about that,” she said when he padded in, bare feet and bare chested.
“No worries. Everyone’s probably concerned. The story made the news.”
“I saw.” She waved her hand at his screen, which was switched to the evening news, though the audio had been muted.
“They weren’t supposed to say whose apartment it was, just that it was an officer.”
“One of the stations must have figured it out, because they said my name, showed my official picture.”
“The smiley one?”
She rolled her eyes. “Unfortunately.”
He laughed and raked his hand through his damp hair. “It’s a cute picture.”
She wrinkled her nose. “I’m a cop. I’m not supposed to be ‘cute’.”
“Oh, of course,” he indulged with a little teasing. “I’d never think of you that way.”
The comment hung in the air for a moment as they stared at each other across the room.
He coughed.
“I should go to bed,” she said and got to her feet.
He nodded, and stepped aside to let her go past. “It’s been a long day.”
But she paused and looked up at him. “Thank you for letting me stay here.”
“I wanted you to be safe, and I don’t want anyone else endangered.”
“Do you think I could be putting you at risk? Really?”
“Every day we put our badges and guns on, we’re in danger, Darb.” He wanted to reach out and put his hand on her shoulder, make that connection. But not knowing if it would cause her pain, he refrained. “Why should that stop being the case? The jackasses we go after every day aren’t going to stop being assholes.”
“I don’t want you hurt because of me.”
“Is that why you didn’t want to stay here?”
She pushed her hair out of her face, then turned and sat on the arm of the couch she’d just vacated. “Not exactly.”
He leaned next to her, arms folded over his chest. “Then why exactly? I’m a big boy, I can take it.”
She blew out a breath, swallowed, and looked at her feet. “Because of what happened at the Rasmussen scene this morning.”
He nodded. “We need to talk.”
“I know what happened. If I hadn’t stopped you, you were going to kiss me. Again.”
“Would that have been such a bad thing?”
“I told you earlier why it would have been. Can you not get it?” Her brown eyes flashed, angry.
“Can you honestly say you don’t feel anything for me?” His voice rocketed up in volume. “After everything we’ve been through together? I’ve been patient enough with you for a lifetime these past couple years. I can’t keep waiting for you to make up your mind, or to figure out what’s going on with the pain you’re experiencing. I’m not getting any younger.”
She closed her eyes and turned away from him. “You mean an awful lot to me, and I can’t imagine the last three years without you. But I don’t think I can love you.”
“You mean you don’t want to.”
She pressed her pretty lips in a firm line. “I didn’t say that.”
“Then why, Darb? I’ve been trying to figure this out for two years...to figure you out.”
She rose. “Have I gotten involved with anyone since Trent, Mark?”
“It looks like you’re trying to with William Young.”
She waved it aside. “Until this week?”
He shook his head and folded his arms again.
“What Trent did shouldn’t have happened,” she said quietly. “I should have stopped him from killing Priscilla.”
“None of us saw it coming. There was no way anyone could have stopped him.”
“He’d still be alive if we had.”
“And Priscilla would be dead.”
“Probably.” She looked at her hands. “Most likely.”
“Would you be okay with that?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Trent made his choices. Maybe they were the wrong ones, maybe not, that’s not for us to decide.”
“Since when did you become a theologian?”
“Been hanging around you and Simon too much,” he quipped, then stepped closer. “Look, I’m not Trent.”
“I didn’t say you were.”
“But you’re trying to say I may do what he did, aren’t you?” Indignant, he raised his voice again. “You’ve known me for how long? Three years and change? By now, you should know my character, Darby.”
“In my position, I have to be careful.”
Her words sounded pathetic to his ears. He slapped a hand on his bare chest. “I’m not going to take advantage of you or your powers.”
“What if one of your sisters got sick? Or your mom? Are you saying you wouldn’t do the exact same thing Trent did if it meant I could bring them back and heal them?” Tears shimmered in her eyes.
He put both hands on her shoulders. “I can’t guarantee that. Can you say you wouldn’t do something drastic if Simon got sick?”
“I don’t think my powers would work if I killed someone.”
“But you don’t know, do you?”
“I’m not exactly going out of my way to find out.”
He tightened his grip, and the energy increased in magnitude. “That’s my point. You don’t know. Life is a gamble. We both could go to bed and asphyxiate in our sleep, or go in to work tomorrow and be killed in the line. Or we both might live another fifty or sixty years and die happily of old age with our kids and grandkids surrounding us.”
She blinked.
“I don’t necessarily mean our kids...together. Just each of ours kids.”
“Mark, you’ve given this a lot more thought. I think I need to go now.”
“Are you avoiding this? Because we need to discuss it.”
Her eyes widened in panic, her brows drawing together in anger. “No, you need to discuss this. I’m not certain I want to listen.” She pulled away, breaking the connection. She turned toward his bedroom.
The electrical fire that usually dissolved immediately stayed in his hands. It had only happened that way once before after he’d kissed her in their cruiser two years earlier.
“Darby...wait.”
“You’re not going to change my mind, Mark. Don’t waste your words.”
“Hear me out, please. As my friend, as my partner, you owe me that much.”
She stared at him.
“Ever since we got back from Costa Rica, things have been difficult.”
“You’re angry with me. I get it. I did something wrong, but I was trying to protect you!”
“Of course you were, but can you understand why I was mad? Why, in spite of everything I’ve told you today, I’m still pissed with you?”
She pressed her lips together, then slowly nodded. “I owe you an apology. I should have trusted you more.” She spread her hands wide. “I’m so sorry, Mark.”
“Thank you. But I need to know what you know. I don’t know where being a not-normal or a not-super puts me. And I don’t even know who I can discuss it with besides you.”
“You haven’t told your mother or Kevin?” She referred to his best friend.
“No.” He paused. “Why didn’t you tell me when you first found out?”
She looked down, then gently took his hand and led him back to the couch. She sat and tugged him down next to her. There was a slight wince of pain on her face, but if anything, she clenched his hands more tightly.
His breath caught. What was she doing? Why touch him herself when she so obviously hurt doing so?
She held his hands between hers and focused on a spot on the floor before finally lifting her eyes to his. “I wanted to. But things had just gotten complicated between us when I found out.”
“You mean it was when I kissed you?”
She nodded. “Doc told me when I was in the hospital.”
He took a deep breath, more to steady himself than to vent some of the building anger. “Difficult, complicated time.”
“It was. I wanted to figure out why it was happening before I came to you, to have answers. But I can’t find any indication there’s anyone quite like you on or off the planet.” She cleared her throat. “When I realized that, it became easier not to tell you. I didn’t want you to have to go through testing. And.” She took a deep breath, then blew it out. “I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
“That if we reported this, they’d take you away from me.” Tears formed in her eyes. She blinked them away. “I couldn’t let that happen. I nearly lost Priscilla, I did lose Trent. I’ve been abandoned by my own brother. And the DSHA and their cohorts tried to take me away for their own sick reasons. I can’t put our partnership at risk. It means too much to me.”
Realization started to hit. “Which is why you won’t let me date you.”
She sniffled. “I’ve been trying to tell you. You won’t listen. You hear it, but you don’t get it.”
“But what if that’s not enough?” He put his arm around her shoulders. He’d never done it here, in these intimate of quarters before, and truly realized how tiny she was. “What if this connection means something? What if it means we’re supposed to be together?”
She raised an eyebrow. “Going back to theology, I’m pretty sure that’s not how God works. I don’t think He’d deign to force two people together.”
He scooted closer. “Leave the religion out of it. There’s a reason you and I crossed paths. It wasn’t by accident I was the only one in Homicide without a partner when you discovered your powers. It wasn’t an accident Douglass put us together. And I can’t believe it’s an accident that makes this connection between us happen.”
She got up and stepped away. The connection left a residual feeling in his arm and hands.
“Do you feel that still?” he asked.
She nodded, eyes closed. “Yeah.”
“Then you have to see why I said what I did. Whether you want to believe it or not, I think we’re supposed to be together. We have something important, even if we don’t understand what it is.”
She stared at him. “I don’t know, Mark. What I do know is it’s late. I’m tired, and I think I need some time alone.”
She turned to leave.
“Darby?”
She paused and looked over her shoulder. Her eyes seemed sad, but he wasn’t sure why they should be.
“I’m sorry as far as my part goes. I should have been able to take it when you told me about the DNA, especially since I’ve known about the electricity.”
Her lips curved into a tight smile. “I know. I should have told you when I learned about it. We could have researched together.”
“You’ll show me what you’ve found?”
She snorted. “You saw my place today, right? I’ll be lucky if I can find the data chips.”
“You have it backed up?”
Darby nodded. “But I’m more concerned they could have been stolen. Something so small, it could be weeks before I can be sure if it’s missing or not.”
“Did you have them someplace secure?”
“I thought I did.” She turned back to him and came back to the couch, sitting once more, but further away. “I’d tucked several together in a hideyhole inside my dresser. I wasn’t able to get a good look to see if it had been located...”
“But with how much damage there was, there’s a good chance they were?”
She bobbed her head, making her wavy blonde hair fall in front of her face momentarily before being swept back. “They’re encrypted, thank God, but still...it’s possible someone with more computer skills than me could get into them.”
He pursed his lips. “Let’s hope they were overlooked, especially if the break-in at your place is related to the Rasmussen case.”
“That’s what I’m hoping. I don’t want that information found. They may put two and two together and figure I know someone who’s different.”
Mark shook his head. “There’s no data about what Jacoby told you, is there?”
“No. He didn’t give me anything anyway. Everything I know is all up here.” She tapped her head lightly.
“Well, they’ll have a tough time cracking that. I’ve been trying to for three years, and you’re pretty stubborn.”
She chuckled. “I’m glad we cleared the air.”
He put his hand over hers. “Me too. Promise me you’re not going to keep any more secrets, okay?”
“So, I guess I should come clean about the team hiring strippers for your birthday party next month?”
He ruffled her hair. “I highly doubt you’d be putting into that pool.”
A smile spread across her face. “Probably not.”
“You know what I mean. The extra weapons, what my DNA is like, all that’s kind of important.”
“I know. I’ll do my best.”
She started to get up again, then bounced a little closer to him. She leaned over and lightly kissed his cheek.
A little surprised, he stared into her brown eyes. “What was that for?”
She slowly got up, pulling away. “A thank you. For caring. Even if we don’t see totally eye to eye on what the nature of our relationship is, you still care about me. I appreciate it.”
He half-smiled. “You’re my friend. Probably my best friend.”
She sighed. “Partner. Friend. Best friend? And you want to add girlfriend into that mix?”
“Yeah, I do.”
She started to say something, but he cut her off.
“Look, that topic is done for tonight. I know what I said, I know what you said. Just don’t let it be your final answer. Think about it. If you have to, talk to your friends and your dad about it, about me. Hell, I don’t even care if you talk to my sisters or the captain or lieutenant.” Mark got to his feet and stood as close to her as he could without touching any part of her. “Promise me you’ll think it over for a few days. Give me, give us a chance to simmer in that thick-walled brain of yours.”
“I—”
“Promise me.”
She glanced away, bleakly. “I promised you that two years ago.”
“Things are different now.” He reached out and gripped her hand. “Please? Maybe together we can figure out how to overcome your pain problem. Learn to recognize why it happens.”
She sighed heavily. “I don’t know if it’ll change anything.”
“Maybe under normal circumstances, it wouldn’t. But like it or not, kid, you’re stuck with me for a few days until your apartment gets sorted.”
She cocked her head to the side. “Are trying to say you’ll grow on me?”
He chuckled. “Like kudzu in Georgia.”