Written By LJ
This is in response to the Tea Room's Three-minute Challenge.
Thanks to Dee for a great beta job and the neat joke.
“Am I in trouble?” Kaylan worriedly inquired.
“Not with me, Copper. Although you’ve asked for my help in a couple of areas to do with your work, I don’t recall the rolling of your cruiser being one of them.” Chancey tried to lighten the situation by teasing without getting facetious about it.
“Very funny!” The pout on Kaylan face compromised the glare he was trying to send his partner’s way. The glare he’d readily admit to; the pout…never.
“Okay, let’s sit down and you can tell me the whole story from the top.” Chancey took a seat on the sofa and patted the space beside him.
“We were chasing a guy suspected of drug dealing. It wasn’t a high-speed chase. Well, it wasn’t at the start but it ended as such. The Chief is not pleased.” Kaylan nervously played with the crease of his pant leg.
“Chases happen in your line of work; fortunately, not often. Was anyone hurt?”
“Only the guy we were after. He must have hit his head when he crashed because he was unconscious when we got to him.”
“How did he crash and into what?”
“He stepped on the gas and we would have lost him had I not done the same. We followed him around the turn at Dunlop unto MacEwen, totally forgetting about the bridge repairs going on there. He ended up ramming into a pile of debris in an attempt to get over it and somehow knocked himself out.”
“How did you manage to avoid hitting him if you were right behind?” The fact that his partner was sitting here in front of him had Chancey silently giving thanks that all had ended so well.
“I swerved right and narrowly missed hitting a telephone pole, but my front left wheel hit a large chunk of cement and the cruiser ended up in its’ side.”
“So it wasn’t a complete rollover. There was no flying through the air, flipping over a couple of times and landing on the roof to skid along the pavement for a few car lengths?”
“Nah, nothing that dramatic, Doc,” Kaylan chuckled briefly before turning serious again. He closed his eyes and shuddered as the events played over again in his mind.
Knowing he hadn’t heard the whole story, Chancey pulled Kaylan over to straddle his lap. “What’s really bothering you, my love?”
“I started to swerve left but by some miracle managed to yank the steering wheel to the right with barely a second to spare. There were kids there, Chancey! I could have hit one of them.” Kaylan’s voice cracked and although he made no other sound, Chancey knew he was crying.
Chancey also knew what his lover was reliving. A month ago, Kaylan had been one of several officers called out to a robbery in progress. Shots had been fired and a young boy had been badly injured in the crossfire. Situations involving children always had a major impact on Kaylan.
The older man tightened his embrace and gently rubbed the quietly sobbing man’s back, giving him time to come to grips with his recollections of a sadder incident.
“Thanks, Doc,” Kaylan murmured. “I got it together now.”
“Good man; wipe your face then, sweetheart. But not on my shirt.” The words left Chancey’s mouth just a little too late, causing him to groan softly as Kaylan did exactly that.
“Knock. Knock.”
“Who’s there?”
“Stop.”
“Stop who?”
“Stop using my shirt as a Kleenex.”
“I like your shirt; it’s softer, smells good and is anti-viral.”
“Brat!” Chancey landed a playful swat on the uniform-covered butt.
The End
