Chapter 30
2016 October
Caden took notice of how Valerie stopped parking in his spot now. He took notice of how she avoided him around work, and that hurt him more than he could remember, but he had to learn to get over it. Deep down though.. Caden knew he would never forget her. He would never miss anyone as much. Though that was a different battle for a different day. Right now Caden was dealing with different things.
"I don't want a partner!" Caden shouted.
"They requested you specifically Caden." Anderson tried to reason with him.
"Turn them down then!" Caden ordered sternly, glaring at Anderson annoyed.
"It seems your forgetting who's in charge here. No one works alone here anymore. I've decided it's too dangerous. You either have a partner or a team. Do you want a team instead Caden?" Anderson hasn't argued this much with Caden in a long time but he had never argued with him over work like this before.
"And have more than one person relying on me!?" Caden crossed his arms and looked away.
"Then what do you want!?" Anderson did not understand what he could do to please him.
"To be alone! Maybe then Victoria and Tammy wouldn't be dead!"
Anderson narrowed his eyes at his long time friend, angry at him in a way he had never been before.
"What are you implying?" Anderson's tone was nothing short of a growl.
"That maybe if you had never assigned me anyone they would still be alive!"
It was silent and for a minute even Caden did not believe what he had said. They just slipped out of his mouth. He would have never blamed Anderson for their deaths and did not even know why he would say that. Caden just stared at his friend regretfully. Anderson looked hurt but he still looked angry.
"Anderson I-"
"You are dismissed Rogers." Anderson ordered like a boss would.
"I didn't-" He was cut off again.
"Go to your office Rogers. Your partner will be there shortly." Anderson ordered again.
Caden felt awful, he just wanted to apologize, he wanted to take it back, but Anderson was not even letting him speak. He looked away shamefully and walked back to his office.
When he entered his office he shut his door softly and sat down at his desk. Caden slouched down in the chair and covered his face in his hands.
"What did you just say Caden?" He asked himself.
Could this day get any worse? After a few minutes of staying in that same position he heard a click of his door opening. Caden spread his fingers apart so he could see past them and opened his eyes. He kept his hands on his face still. When his new partner entered his hands fell to his lap and he could do nothing but stare in shock.
"Hi Caden." She greeted quietly, she always was shy.
"S-Samantha?" He barely uttered the words. Someone tell him this was a crazy coincidence and she was just here to visit him.
"We both said we would end up seeing each other again at work one day. I finished my training." Sam smiled shyly and placed her brand new badge on his desk. He picked it up and looked it over. She was an official certified medic and ARRO agent now. He looked back up and handed her badge back to her.
"And you requested to be my partner?" Caden could not believe it.
Her shy smiled faded and turned into a more bold proud one.
"Of course! At first I was going to be on a team like Danny or Jackson but then I talked to Rivers and found out you didn't have a partner." She admitted excitedly. Somehow, for some reason, Caden smiled but it was more to himself. He was kinda happy to see her excited to be his partner. For a minute because of her sudden positive attitude, her bright warm smile, and how excited she was to be his partner, he saw of flicker of Tammy in her. Now he just wanted to apologize to Anderson even more.
"Congratulations." Caden told her.
With that comment she was back to being shy. She let her hair fall in her face to hide her face.
"Thanks." She told him.
She did not look much different. Same red curly hair, same hazel eyes, same height. The only different thing was she was wearing a pair of red rimmed glasses.
"I didn't know you wore glasses." Caden admitted.
"Yeah, I normally wear contacts but I can see better out of my glasses." Samantha admitted.
"You're not completely blind without them are you?" Caden questioned, considering the fact if she wore them on missions they could be knocked off.
"No, not running into poles blind, but if you asked for details on what a person looked like I probably couldn't tell you." Sam explained.
Some people may not particularly look good in glasses but Samantha did. They suited her well.
"You know I'm really excited about this job, I promise I won't let you down." She assured him.
Caden smiled warmly at her.
"I know you won't. You couldn't if you tried." He assured her, causing her cheeks to turn pink.
Maybe having her with him would not be so bad. Yet he had thought that about everyone. Caden was running out of things to assume about having partners, and at this point he was just going to stop assuming. He won't promise himself he can keep her safe but he won't stop trying to protect her either. One thing he will promise himself is Sam is going to be his last partner, no matter what happens..
He would give this partner thing one last chance, but he told himself he was past his three-strikes-and-your-out; So what does that mean for Samantha?
Did anyone expect this? I'm really excited to bring Sam back into the story because everyone really seemed to like her! Thanks for still sticking around to those who are still reading and believe it or not there is a lot more still in store.. 😉