Dean's pov
Extending my shitty night into the morning, I was having a helluva time at work. Nothing was going smoothly and every call was taking twice as long as it should have. As soon as I returned to the station, I knew I was in trouble. Becky gave me such a sad sympathetic look when her eyes met mine, it could only mean one thing. I'm on Crowley's shit list too.
"Deputy Winchester, Sheriff Crowley would like to speak with you in his office immediately," she stated, quite professionally.
Fuck! Now I know it's bad, really bad, otherwise she would have called me Dean.
I knocked on my boss's door while exhaling forcefully, trying to calm my nerves. Getting called into the sheriff's office is never a good sign.
"Entre," he called out pretentiously.
Well, here goes nothing I thought, saying a silent prayer before turning the knob and crossing the threshold into Hell.
"Uh, you wanted to speak to me, sir?" I asked, the hesitation in my voice sounding way more timid than I would have liked.
"Sit down, deputy," he replied stoically, gesturing to the chair opposite his desk.
I parked my ass on the hard wooden seat and impatiently waited for him to bring the true purpose of this meeting to light.
"Does the name Shurley ring any bells, deputy?" Crowley leaned back in his reclining chair, a smug smile briefly gracing his lips upon seeing the flash of comprehension cross my face.
"Um, no sir. Should it?" I stammered my reply, trying to stall for time as I was caught completely off guard by his query. I never would've guessed he knew about me pulling that asshole over last week on a not-so-routine traffic stop. As a rule of thumb in law enforcement, we all try to keep the vigilante justice down to a minimum, but it is unavoidable to some extent.
Chuck Shurley is... Well, he's an asshole, to put it simply. He has way too much influence in this town and consequently, a major God complex too. I can't stomach the man, not even in small doses, so that's why I pulled him over Thursday. I claimed there was an anonymous call regarding a vehicle matching the description driving erratically, weaving in and out of lanes, speeding down the highway.
Truth is, Chuck made a pass at my woman. Amy wasn't the one to tell me about though. I heard it through the grapevine, so to speak. One of Amy's colleagues at the courthouse told me how the sleaze cornered her outside the courtroom, getting way too close as he propositioned her. Okay, maybe I'm embellishing the story a little bit but he needs to know my woman is off limits.
"Well, then let me refresh your memory, deputy," Crowley said in an annoyed tone, as he yanked a piece of paper out of the folder lying atop his desk. A copy of the complaint Chuck made against me, no doubt.
Crowley confirmed my fears as he read the accusations against me, word by excruciating word. I zoned out after the first two sentences so it took me a minute to realize he was done reading the complaint and had resumed lecturing me. That prick Chuck had it comin' so I was currently feeling far from repentant. I guess my boss had a different opinion though. Slamming his hands down on his desk, he now had my undivided attention.
Waving the paper in my face, he shouted, "YOU KNOW WHAT THEY CALL THIS, DEPUTY?" Crowley didn't even pause to give me a chance to answer before he continued, "AN ABUSE OF POWER!" He gave me an extremely sharp look. "Do you think the citizens of this county want to be abused by law enforcement officers?"
"No sir."
"Or do you think perhaps they'd prefer my deputies serve and protect them as they swore to do upon taking an oath when they entered this office?"
Even though my boss was grating on my nerves with his condescending lecture, I replied respectfully, "I'm sure they'd choose the latter, sir." Pissing off Crowley will only get me in a mess of trouble. A bigger one than I'm in currently. I don't need that.
"You're on desk duty for the next two weeks, deputy." He paused, waiting to see if I'd give him any guff in regards to his disciplinary measure of choice.
I didn't. Had to bite my tongue literally, to keep from voicing my objection to his petty punishment but such is the life of a rural county deputy working under a leprechaun-sized tyrant of a sheriff.
Eyeing me closely, he took my silence as his cue to proceed.
"I expect a full report on this incident and a copy of your apology to that citizen on my desk, first thing in the morning, Winchester."
"Yes sir." I fought hard not to roll my eyes in front of him. That can wait til I leave the room.
"If the need ever arises for us to have this conversation again, deputy..." He narrowed his eyes at me. A slight smirk danced across his lips. "I'll have your badge. Have I made myself perfectly clear?"
"Yes sir."
"Good, you're dismissed," he said, waving me off with a flourish of his hand.
I took a few deep calming, cleansing breaths as I left my boss's office. God I hate desk duty! Paperwork sucks. What's even worse is I'll be on phone duty whenever Becky goes on break, takes her lunch, or is away from her desk for any reason. I hate listening to all those people's whiny-ass irrelevant complaints. Becky has the patience for their shit. I don't. These next two weeks are gonna blow.
I grit my teeth and suffered through the remainder of my workday, the thought of going home to my family, my only saving grace.
"Daddy, daddy, daddy," I heard my daughter yell before I even set foot in the house. "Come here, I need you." Be careful what you wish for, I thought to myself.
"Hi, baby. Give me just a minute to get through the door and I'll come see you. Ok?" I knew by Katie's upbeat tone of voice that she wasn't hurt or in trouble, so it's not an emergency or something truly urgent.
"Daddy, hurry, it's important. You have to read these three papers the teacher gave me about the science club after school program and then you have to sign the permission slip so I can go."
"Why didn't you just ask Amy to sign your form when you got home from school?" I sighed, not having the energy nor desire to match my daughter's current level of exuberance.
"Because the teacher said it has to be signed by a parent or legal guardian and Amy is just your girlfriend so that doesn't count. She said it twice, Dad, so it's really important to follow her directions."
"I'm really not in the mood to deal with this right now, Katie. I've had a pretty rough day, sweetheart. Can we talk about it later?" I literally just set my keys down. All I want to do is change out of this uniform, grab myself a cold beer out of the fridge, and give my woman's fine ass a squeeze. Is that too much to ask?
I had my answer as my lovely daughter came rushing into the living room, continuing to belabor her request that I accede to her demands.
"But, Daddy, I need to know by Thursday so I can turn the form into my teacher by Friday," she whined.
"Is it Thursday?" I replied, in a snippy tone.
Wrinkling her brow, looking somewhat surprised but mostly confused, Katie responded, "No, it's Tuesday."
"Then you have your answer for now. You have plenty of time until Thursday. We'll discuss it later, little girl."
Stomping one of her small feet in a bold, yet unwise display of defiance, my soon to be sorry daughter asserted, "No, Daddy. I don't want to wait till Thursday. I want to know right now. Why can't you just sign it already?"
I inhaled deeply through my nostrils, my jaw clenched shut. My eye twitched as my temper escalated. She picked the wrong day to push my buttons. I know it's not her fault my boss reamed me out but it is her fault she keeps persisting about this stupid form, despite me telling her to stop.
"Katie girl, you best hightail your little behind and that damn form up to your room before I yank you over my knee and blister your ass, again." I'm not playin' and my little girl better recognize that or she'll be gettin' one hell of a whoopin' and I don't think she wants that after the spanking she received yesterday.
"Dadddddy," she whined.
"NOW GIT!" I shouted, pointing to the stairs with one hand as I clutched my belt buckle with the other.
"UGGHHH! YOU'RE SO MEAN!"
"GO!" I reiterated, continuing to give directions via not so subtle hand signals.
"What's all the yelling about?" Amy asked, emerging from the kitchen to greet me and assess the commotion.
"Dad's being stubborn as usual," my daughter shouted, halfway up the stairs.
"And my daughter is about to lose her ability to sit, if she doesn't stop talking and start listening," I replied in warning, echoing Katie's volume as I watched her stomp up the remaining stairs. "Did you not learn your lesson yesterday about what happens when you misbehave?" It's as if she's acting like it never even happened. I know her attention span cannot possibly be that short. I waited a moment for her to respond but my daughter ignored my question so Amy jumped in.
"Dinner will be ready in about twenty minutes, Katie. I'll call you down then," she voiced so sweetly to my daughter, as she hung on my arm, trying and succeeding to calm me down.
"So I'm stubborn, huh?" I asked my woman facetiously, as I took her in my arms. I know damn well Katie was mimicking Amy when she called me stubborn.
"I don't know what you mean," she giggled, leaning in to kiss me on the lips.
Obliging my baby, I playfully smacked her ass and kissed her hard. Amy and I had a long talk this afternoon during her lunch break and I did a lot of apologizing for the way I snapped at her yesterday when I yelled at her to put Drew to bed. I really missed not having her next to me while I slept last night, or more accurately tossed and turned, and I don't want a repeat of that anytime soon. Thankfully she forgave me and agreed to let me off the hook. I'm so lucky she's not fond of holding a grudge, just one more thing I love about her.
"Do me a favor, Dean, and let this one go. Ok?" Amy smiled at me softly as she stood on her tiptoes to peck me on the cheek. "You had a rough day. She's overly excited. After you sleep on it, tomorrow you can both address it anew with refreshed attitudes and a positive outlook. Alright?"
My lady looked at me with such hope and optimism, I didn't have the heart to let her down, plus I know she's right. If I hadn't gotten on Crowley's shit list today, I wouldn't have come home in a pissy mood and the argument with Katie never would've happened.
"I'll consider it, baby, but I'm probably gonna need some more convincing tonight, between the sheets," I replied laughing, roughly attaching my lips to her neck as I crudely groped my lady. One out of three ain't bad I thought, reflecting on my goals for this evening.