In Sickness and In Health

Chapter Twenty Seven

Chapter Twenty-Seven

"Hey, Reagan!" Annie called across the precinct. Joey had been standoffish the last week since he'd come back from taking a week off to help his Eddie at home while she rested her arm. They rode together but he had turned her down for beers every time she offered. "Reagan! Wait up!"

Joey stopped and turned around to see his partner, in her street clothes, jogging to catch him. "We need to talk, Reagan," she said firmly. "You've been avoiding me for two weeks and hardly talking on tour. Did I do something wrong?"

The tension had been palpable the last couple of weeks. Annie kept trying to pin Joey down but he kept excusing it saying he had to help his mom or his uncle needed a ride. Today, Annie wasn't taking no for an answer.

Joey stopped and turned to his partner, "I thought we were friends, Anne," he said suddenly. "I thought we were best friends."

"We are," Annie replied quickly. "Of course we are. Why would you even say a thing like that?"

"I saw you, Annie," Joey sighed. "You held out on me. We promised to always tell each other if we decided to date. After what happened to me with my last three girlfriends, we're supposed to vet each other's dates. Joey reminded her.

"Who are you even talking about, Joey," Annie said a little confused. "I'm not seeing anyone, Joe."

Joey quickly described the man he saw with Annie having lunch with Jamie at the diner, "Male white, dark hair about 5'11" tall, 20 lbs. over weight. I saw you with him two weeks ago when I took my dad to lunch at Archie's!"

"Oh, him. He's nobody," Annie defended. "I met him on POF and met him for lunch. He's kind of hands on and gross so I deleted my profile and that was it. Why didn't you say something to me about it before? You sat on this for two weeks and acted like jerk? For what?"

Joey shrugged, "I guess I was upset that you didn't mention you were seeing someone. I acted like an ass, and I'm sorry. It's getting to me, Anne. All this stuff it's just getting to me. What do you say to some beers? Or if you need to go home then we can do that too and just talk. I'm sorry I..."

"That you were jealous?" Annie asked. "It's okay Reagan, really. When you were seeing Carolyn last year I was jealous too. Your folks got married they were so in sync as partners. We're supposed to be best friends, we trust each other with our lives, so it's natural to be jealous."

Joey laughed, "My old man thought I was jealous too. So what do you want to do? Get some beers or go back to your place for Chinese?"

"Beers, I have another two hours with the sitter. Let's go to that German bar for those black beers you mom had at you birthday last year, those were out of this world."

Joey laughed and slid his arm around Annie leading her towards his car and drove to the bar.

They each had two beers and large German style pretzels. They sat laughing over some of their crazier collars when Joey's phone rang. "I have to get that, it's my Mom," Joey told Annie quickly. "Hey, Mom."

"Joey, I am sorry if this is a bad time, I can hear the music," Eddie said her voice very happy and light. "But I had to tell you the great news, Dad passed his study. The doctor said he has regained 85% of the usage of his throat muscles. They aren't sure he'll get any better than that but it is still really encouraging news! Dad is over the moon."

"Wow, Mom that is fabulous news. So it's goulash at dinner tomorrow yeah?" Joey asked. "Can you make that cream you can put on top?"

Eddie laughed, "Of course I can. I'm going to get some cinnamon bread too for dessert. Go back and have fun, I just wanted to share. Dad sends his love."

"Me too," Joey said and hung up. He was smiling when he returned to his stool. "My Dad passed his test today, the doctor is really pleased with his progress. They said he's 85% in control of his swallowing now, up from 40%. He's come such a long way."

Annie could tell how proud Joey was. She remembered the day Jamie had his stroke. Joey had spent hours at the hospital with his family, then showed up at her place.

Annie hurried to answer the door, whoever was knocking incessantly was going to wake her kids. She worked her butt off getting them to bed. She leaned up on tiptoes and saw Joey in the peephole. "Joey?" she hurried to undo the locks and let her partner in. "Joey, what happened?"

She had seen her partner angry, joking around, even humiliated, but she never remembered him looking like this. Annie tugged Joey's arm and pulled him inside. She pushed him down on the sofa, he appeared to be in shock. "Joey, please talk to me."

"Uh, I just came from St. Vic's," Joey began. "Can I get a cup of coffee? I'm uh...I need a cup of coffee, no a whiskey, I need a whiskey."

Annie hurried to get it for him then sat down again, "You were at St. Vic's. Is it your Mom?" Annie knew it wasn't a fellow officer, if it was it would be on the wire already.

Joey shook his head, "They are keeping it quiet right now. The DCPI is...on Mom's say so. My Dad...You can't tell anyone, Annie, you can't."

"I won't," Annie replied quickly. She took the glass from Joey's hand and held his hands in her own. "Talk to me. Come on...It's okay."

"He had a stroke," Joey whispered, his voice catching at the memories of her father lying unconscious in the hospital bed, IVs hooked up to him, his body swelling from medications and trauma. He didn't know if he'd ever see his father's eyes again. He didn't know if he'd get to say he was sorry. "And it's my fault."

"Oh, Joe," Annie sighed and moved to put her arms around Joey. "Hey, it's not your fault, okay? You got angry at him, you went off halfcocked, sure, but your Dad has been under the gun his entire career, more so lately. It's not your fault, all right?"

"He's just lying there, Ann," Joey sniffled. "He's just lying there. Mom is holding onto his hand but he has no idea he's even there. We have no idea if he will even make it, they said the first three days are really crucial. If he wakes up...we have no idea what is going to be left. God, Ann, how am I going to get my Mom through this. She and my Dad, they are everything to each other. She is so tired, this can bring her cancer back..." Joey let a few tears fall in the safety of Annie's company. He couldn't let his Mom see him cry.

"Joey, let's just take the three days okay?" Annie said gently. "Let's take the three days and see how he does. In the meantime, you feel regret now, make him proud. Do what your Dad would want. Step up and take care of your family."

"Your Dad will be back at 1PP in no time," Annie said smiling. "And I know you being around that week and giving your Mom a break helped them both a lot." She drained her beer. "I better go, traffic...See you in the morning, Reagan."

"Catch you, partner," Joey laughed as he paid their tab and headed home to get some rest before his tour and his mother's beef goulash.

Eddie crawled into bed besides Jamie later that night and laid her head on his chest. "Did you tell Joey?" he asked softly for the fourth time. He hoped that Joey would have called to congratulate him but he knew better than to hope.

"I did, and he is so proud of you, Jamie. I'm proud of you too. You worked really hard, you came leaps and bounds from where you were, and I was thinking more about what you decided yesterday. I'm for that. You are tiring yourself out and..." She traced some of the bruises on his bare chest. "Causing yourself so much pain. I'm behind you, and if you want me to be, I'll be there when you break the news on Sunday."

Jamie sighed, "They'll give me a hard time, I know that. Still, what really matters is that we have each other's back, partner." Jamie turned his head and gave Eddie a long gentle kiss.

"Till death do us part," she whispered returning his affectionate gesture. "Let's get some rest, I have to get up early to start your celebration dinner."

Jamie laughed, "You better get a lot of sleep. I have a long list of meals I want to revist...turkey pot pie, stuffed mushrooms..."

Jamie stifled a laugh as Eddie used a free pillow and gave him a smack. Things were slowly but surely righting themselves, all she needed now was to reignite the fire in their marriage and heal the rift that still existed between Jamie and their son.