Nikki is brought gently around by the rhythmic pulsing of a soft blue light, programmed to let her know the day is starting for Pacific phase. She opens her eyes and makes a gesture to cancel the visual wake-up call, not worried that she might drift off again. She slept well and she moderated her alcohol intake so she isn’t hung-over. She’s got responsibilities now: more than she wanted. Alice was smart that way. A lot of ways.
Without the usual levels of booze to cloud it, details of the night before come flooding back quicker and more clearly than she is used to. That said, it was a particularly memorable evening, as evidenced by the fact that there are not one but two extra bodies in her bed. She sits up and looks at the rather beautiful form of Dominic Petitjean sleeping peacefully alongside her. He’s going to have some vivid memories too, but they might be a little fuzzier than hers, unless he’s got a greater tolerance for Speyside malt than his condition last night indicated.
Nikki and Alice figured all the members of Ochoba’s task force had volunteered for their positions either because they were ultra-straight-arrow hard-ass zealots, or because they quite liked the idea of a temporary gig on CdC, with all the potential for adventure that entailed. In Dominic’s case, they were betting on the latter. It was an informed bet, Alice having done some discreet asking around, though her research clearly missed a few things.
Alice had commissioned Nikki to give Dominic the grand tour and allow him to indulge his appetites wherever they might lie. Once she got a close-up look at how pretty he was—and more importantly discovered that he was precisely as much fun as his older sister was not—Nikki decided to take a more hands-on approach to her mission. Her strategy had been to get him shit-faced and tempt him back for a three-way with Candace, but it didn’t quite work out like that. He was into a three-way, but the composition was not entirely as anticipated. Turned out it was Garret he was more interested in, which is why his is the other body sprawled across Nikki’s bed.
Nikki and Candace are good now, happy to say. When they first saw each other again, Candace was all guilt and apologies, and it was tempting to milk that, or at least manipulate it into some quality make-up sex. However, Nikki couldn’t help but think of that hug they shared at the junction of Garneau and Young, and how it made her feel. It had turned out to be a Judas kiss, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t have it now for real.
“There’s nothing to forgive,” she told Candace. “I’m the one who’s got all the making up to do.”
Nikki looks out her clothes for the day and begins dressing in front of the mirror. As she begins buttoning her shirt, she notices Dominic open a bleary eye and take in his surroundings. Give him props, he doesn’t look fazed.
“You have to get a move on,” she tells him. “You’re addressing your new troops at ten. You’ll need to take the static seven stops. Be busy at this time, could take at least half an hour, maybe forty minutes.”
He looks precisely as confused as she intends him to be.
“The static? I thought this was my sector. Leastways, this was where you showed me around last night.”
“No, this is Mullane. I showed you around here because I figured it was what you’d rather see. Your new turf is McAuliffe. Nothing much to scope there that you won’t see soon enough.”
“So who’s the new captain in Mullane?”
Nikki fastens the tricky topmost button on her dress uniform and smiles at him in the mirror.