Tough Love

Chapter One Hundred Twenty-Four

I smile, "No need to be sorry about that. I'm not going to turn down cake. We should take some to work tomorrow."

She freezes from wrapping up the leftovers.

"You're going into work?"

"Yeah."

"But you should be resting..."

"I'm going to get bored and go crazy sitting at home all day. I'm not going in the field. I'll just do  paperwork or something, but I can't sit around here and do nothing."

She nods, but doesn't say anything. I know my Dani; I know there's more to that nod than she's letting on. She clearly doesn't agree with my decision, so I try to prize her opinion out of her.

"Baby? What are you thinking? Lay it on me. Whatever your opinion is on the matter, I want to hear it. My decisions don't just affect me, they have an impact on you too. So talk to me."

Her voice is small when she speaks, "I don't want you to get hurt, Eli. I don't want there to be any complications or risks taken with your recovery. I can't lose you."

"I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying right here with you. You're not getting rid of me that easily..."

"It's not a joke, Eli."

"I'm not kidding around."

I don't miss the fact that she didn't flinch or back away when she voiced that last comment. I don't do or say anything to draw attention to that fact.

"I'm seriously not joking, Dani. I don't intend on leaving you any time soon. I want to go in and see the Cap. I want to make sure you're safe at work. I can't sit around here and not know what's going on at the precinct. I need to know you're ok and that the team are doing things properly. I'm still their commanding officer and I need to make sure the team is being run the way that I would do it. I promiseI will keep myself safe and I will be extra cautious. If I even have a passing thought that something isn't quite right, then you'll be the first person I speak to. Will that be good enough?"

"If your wounds feel any different or there's any change in the color of the dressings, you'll let me know right away?"

"Yes. Definitely."

"Ok."

I send her a smile of thanks and we shut off the lights on the way up to bed.

The Cap has mixed feelings on me being at the precinct when he sees me enter his office the next morning. He's pleased that that I'm ok, but he's not happy that I'm not at home recovering. Like that's going to make me leave. He knows me too well, because he says, "Unless I order you to stay at home, then you'll just keep turning up. I can't be dealing with you checking in every hour on the phone so it's easier to let you stay. Don't mess up your recovery, Ramirez. I need you healthy after this."

"Of course, sir. Where are we at with the investigation."

"The Feds are taking the case. Apparently Ivankov is being shipped back to Russia. It would seem that his crimes over there were committed before ours and they have a trump card that no one is telling me about. We can process and charge everyone else, but he goes back to Russia I'm afraid. I just got the news early this morning."

I let out a low growl of frustration. I want to make this guy pay for everything he's done to Dani.

The Cap senses my frustration and tries to ease the blow, "I have it on good authority that he's going to be thrown into a black hole and left to rot though. My source seems to think his crimes are even bad enough for the government out there to want to make him pay a heavy price."