The Heath Files

Tear it Apart

We watched as CSU tote the apartment apart. Emily had taken Lloyd back to the station. Amy and Lauren put him in holding for now. Kelley helped Natalie and their kids find a hotel for the night. CSU took all the dvds, books, computers, anything. They checked under rugs, couches, places I wouldn't think to check.

"Hey Tobs, Hope," Ash called from a room, "the dogs found something." She said. We followed her to the bedroom.

The dog was sniffing and barking at the cabinet. We called in a guy from CSU to do the search. He took out the first drawer and felt for something, coming up empty, he dumped it out and flipped it over to reveal two large black boxes.

"Flash drives." Hope said.

"Taped to the bottom of the underwear drawer." Ash said as she stared at them in disgust.

"Yeah, and I'll be those aren't vacation photos." I shook my head.

"Alright, separate faraday bags. I want this covered, textbook. Give me a clear chain of custody." Ash instructed the man. He nodded and got to work.

After the search had gone on a little longer, we left it in the hands of Ash and CSU. As Hope, Kelley and I walked out of the apartment, she briefed us on the game plan.

"Both Of you, listen to me, this is what's going to happen and I want know arguments." She said. Kelley and I shared a look, bracing ourselves for a lecture. "Kelley you've only been on duty for a couple of hours, so I want you to go back to the station and relieve Sonnet, rookie needs a break. Tobin," she started, I was sure I would t like this, "as much as I don't want you on any case right now, busting the deputy commissioner was bth brilliant and incredibly stupid. This isn't going to be an easy fight so I need you on this case. But you've already been working twelve hours. It's 3:00 am, so what I want you to do, is go home, get a bit of sleep, and be back at the station at 5:30. Can you do that? No sooner no later?" She asked.

"Aye Aye Captain." I smiled at her. She nodded and smiled back.

"Good, and say hello to that beautiful wife of yours." She smiled.

"Can do." I said, although I wasn't even sure she'd wanna say hello to me.

When I got Home Christen was asleep, which was to be expected, but she'd be getting up in a little while to get ready for work. I kicked of my shoes in our room and climbed into bed next to her. Leaving my jacket, work clothes, pretty much everything but my shoes. I wasn't going to waste time changing I could spend with Christen.

A two hours later, the heart breaking sound of Christen's alarm clock woke both of us up.

"Hey, when'd you get here?" She asked with a lazy smile.

"Couple hours ago, again, I'm sorry, and it's no excuse, but there was a big case." I said. She leaned over and kissed me before getting up.

"I know. About the other night, although I don't love your job, I overreacted a bit. You can't control when something like this happens." She said as she walked out of the room and down the hall. I got up to follow her.

"Yeah, but you're right, I need to be more present, make more time for us." I said. She smiled at the thought, almost knowing it was impossible.

"Thank you baby, but it's ok." She said turning to the fridge.

"No it's not, I've got to be here more for Jack, and for you. Which is why, I've decided to drop one shift a week." She turned to me skeptically.

"Can you do that? Can you manage that? How much will that change your pay?" She asked.

"Not much, maybe $75 less a week but we'll make it work. And every once in a while I'll get called on for something, but for the most part I'll be home more." I said. She took a second to think before nodding.

"Ok. We'll make it work." She smiled before hugging me, "so what's this big case?" She asked when we pulled back.

"I'm actually not at liberty to say. And that's because it's someone pretty high up in the NYPD." I said. She gasped like it was high school gossip.

"Are you kidding?" She asked.

"I wish," I said thinking of the headaches to come, "but you'll hear about it in the news in the next hour or so." I said.

"That's crazy." She commented as she started to make herself an egg.

"I know, Hope's flipping out." I said sitting at the counter.

"So what time do you have to be back at the station?" She asked.

"Half an hour." I said checking the wall clock. After that there want much dialogue. Bit because we were angry or dancing around something, but all that needed to be said had been. It was one of the beautiful things about our relationship. There was no need to fill the silence, to give the illusion of there being more, because what we had was more than enough. Being with Christen was easy. It was right. It was perfect.

AN

Hey guys, thanks so much for reading!! Make sure to vote and leave comments!!