Two legs in a pair of dark jeans strolled through the precinct doors with no other apparent aim than arrival. What was the time? 8:30 a.m. Their newest addition was late--much to Katrina’s irritation. If she could be on time every day of the week while also attending night classes, then surely her superior could show her the same courtesy, right?
Adam was babbling on in her left ear, Dennis droning on about something along the lines of asking the more eccentric man to be quiet--just without necessarily voicing that exact statement--in her right ear, Katrina used their distractions to size up the newest arrival more closely. At first glance, she assumed that it was a corporate asshole coming to bark orders for the simple fact that they had been standing around doing nothing for the past thirty minutes.
Having started to piece together who it was that was walking toward them, and Katrina’s breath caught in her throat.
The letters ‘NYPD’ were stitched across the shoulder of what looked to be an expensive police issued jacket. A badge reading “Lieutenant Kaleb Gray” adorned the other and a black t-shirt hugged the firm frame underneath. No tie, no white pressed shirt, and most certainly not someone that looked anything relatively close to a corporate prick.
Kaleb was a precious little thing--if being over six feet tall counted as little--with brown eyes that were soft in expression, matching curly brown hair that was fixed perfectly aside from a few flyaway strands that hadn’t managed to tame themselves since the week before. A familiar sharpness lined his face, a tick settling itself inside of a rigid jawline. The young blonde found herself dumbfounded.
Kaleb was that guy from the elevator?! The one that Lisa was telling you about at lunch on Friday?! How did she describe him? Overly complicated. If Katrina recalled correctly.
Tentative steps ceased abruptly a mere few feet away from the situation, neither of the two bickering men next to her having yet noticed his arrival. The Lieutenant’s forehead creased, his eyes meeting Katrina’s with raised eyebrows; his look of confusion did not last very long, as he seemingly processed the situation and gently scraped the hair at the nape of his neck.
Seeing as to how the altercation was occurring directly next to their desks, he took the initiative to step in. With a seamless stride, Kaleb crossed the room and inserted himself between the trio, brushing the flaps of his jacket aside to shove his hands into the pockets of his jeans.
“I’ll take it from here Detective Quinn, Officer Carlisle.”
The tone of his voice was gentle but powerful. A certain smoothness in the way it rolled off his tongue offered an undeniably calm demeanor, the sincerity in the way it was spoken making his words all the more confident--even with those eyes picking the two men apart with practiced ease.
“Look who finally decided to show.” Having perched himself on the edge of the desk, a cocky smirk tugged against a scarred lip that Katrina had to resist rolling her eyes to. For the moment Adam dropped his childish bickering just long enough to acknowledge the Lieutenant’s presence, pushing himself into a standing position, arms folded across his broad chest again. “I thought I got a strong whiff of shit for a second, and well, here you are.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Katrina noticed Dennis take a noticeable step back as the more eccentric detective attempted to square up to the Lieutenant. It would’ve been amusing if the situation hadn’t been so tense--since the top of Adam’s head just barely reached Kaleb’s shoulder.
Head swaying to the left--expression stoic despite the insult that would have gotten anyone fired depending on whom it was spoken to--Kaleb voiced a simple: “Hello Detective Quinn.”
“I thought that when Gellar gave you a fine new intern you would pull your head out of your ass. Guess I shouldn’t expect much out of you these days, hm?” Adam scoffed.
“I believe that Miss Reynolds was assigned as my intern. While I will agree with you that she is a fine addition to the precinct, I suspect that she has very little interest in engaging in any sort of physical activity with you unless you wouldn’t mind to show her where she can fill out a sexual harassment complaint.”
The lieutenants' eyebrows folded as the words carelessly left his lips, borderline hostile.
“Oh! that really won’t be-” Katrina attempted to spit out, but a subtle head shake from Dennis silenced any sort of attempt at preventing any physical altercation. She could only watch helplessly from the side, hostility only radiating from one person. Kaleb, while his tone was stern and evident of someone in his position, he didn’t match up to the squared shoulders of his counterpart’s.
“Okay, smartass.” Adam snapped, pursing his bottom lip. His fingers flexed and unflexed as though batting around the possibility of lashing out at the lieutenant. “First, why don’t you fuck off, and leave me the hell alone,” the detective practically hissed
“Second, you’re not my boss. You don’t order me the fuck around, got it?”
“First,” Kaleb mocked, his level tone betraying any sort of outward aggression, rather a simple explanation. Katrina could see it however, the twitch of his eyebrows that betrayed that hidden irritation. “I will make something clear to you, Detective. Yes, I will go so far as to agree that my intelligence far exceeds your elementary vocabulary that you use to insult me. Second, as you so eloquently put it, as of two years ago, I am fully recognized as a superior, but I am not your servant nor will I act as your sitter. Finally, I will not tolerate any of your attempts to imply otherwise.”
“Alright, you two. Take a breather.” Dennis advised, finally deciding to intercept. Tenderly reaching out he grabbed the seething detective’s arm, Adam threw his shoulder back, looking to Kaleb as he practically spat.
“Better watch your step. Next time, you won’t get off so easy.” An underhanded threat--and something more recently recognized as a common occurrence seeing as how Kaleb remained unfazed through the entire thing. Shouldering past him--and muttering a slew of incoherent curses under his breath--Adam stepped away, throwing the door to the break room open and slinging himself inside.
Dennis offered a helpless shrug, giving Katrina an awkward and apologetic smile before following suit, likely making sure that Adam didn’t do anything regrettable in his fit of rage.
Katrina’s eyes trailed over to Kaleb, prepared to offer a slew of apologies for the situation, even a thanks for choosing to interfere in the first place, but the lieutenant’s attention was diverted elsewhere. For a moment, he didn’t move, watching after Adam with careful and untrustworthy eyes, features hiding something much darker underneath of the carefree expression that he was showing her, something more… primal.
Finally, he had turned to her, adjusting his jacket and extending a hand out. A slight and innocent smile tugged at his lips, so subtle that it was very easily missed. Katrina had seen it, though. “Lieutenant Kaleb Gray. I had been told that we would be working together.”
He didn’t seem like how Lisa had described at all.
“Oh,” Katrina mumbled at first, taking his hand into hers and giving it a firm shake. For someone as young as her, her hands were very calloused, but he made no comment towards such, his hand retreating back into his pocket immediately after.
“Yes! Lieutenant Gray, It’s nice to meet you, sir! I’m Katrina. Katrina Reynolds.Though since you knew we would be working together, you obviously already knew that.”
Head swaying slightly to the left, the barest traces of a smile crossed his lips. One that lifted both corners of his mouth and disappeared as he acknowledged her introduction.
“I remember you.” He concluded in what was almost a whisper. Kaleb did know her, but as far as she knew this was the first time that the two had met. Officially.
“Um, ho-how?”
“You were the girl terrified of the elevator.”
Oh. He had noticed then.You were playing it off so well though. Fuck!
It was comical almost, how someone so...genuine could be the topic of such hateful gossip around the precinct. Especially considering he gave no sort of reaction to any of it, at least not that she’d seen. Frankly, her superior was something to figure out another time.
~~~~
The majority of the morning was spent with Katrina being shown around the third floor--not that there was much to see. Aside from the elevator lobby, a bunch of desks crowded together, and a break room that was hidden away in a back corner of this particular floor, that was about it. Kaleb made sure to bring her back down to the first floor, so he could give her a full tour of everything the building had to offer. Considering how old the precinct looked from the outside, the modernization on the inside was a really nice touch. Every wall was a very light blue, white signs with black print were everywhere, helping to make sure both visitors and people who worked at the station knew exactly where they were or how to get to a particular destination.
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Stepping off the elevator, Kaleb used his keycard to grant himself and his intern access into the front office which would then lead them into the rest of the station. Katrina and Lisa had locked eyes with each other for a brief moment there. The records clerk seemed to realize her mistake in having called the lieutenant out during their lunch last week. It was fine though, Katrina was a smart enough person to figure out that Kaleb really wasn’t as bad as everyone made him out to be. Still, she could see an expression come over her friend that the young woman was not used to.
“Kaleb,” Lisa greeted kindly, showing no signs she was nervous at all.
“Miss Winthrop,” the police lieutenant offered back curtly. Katrina watched as he refused to make eye contact with the brunette and he just continued to keep moving forward.
The pair walked past Gellar's office on their way toward some holding cells. The intern and police captain actually waved to each other and she swore she saw him start to salute with the most confident of expressions. After passing the holding cells, the pair went to look at the interrogation rooms. Continuing on and around the corner there was an evidence room and even though it looked small from the outside, the young woman could only imagine all the stuff that was behind that small door.
They made it to the second floor, this one had a crime lab, some office spaces, a meeting area, and locker rooms. They skipped up to the fourth floor, and this area actually housed some courtrooms and more offices along with just a handful of desks in the center of the space. Lastly, the fifth floor had a 911 dispatching center and another small group of desks that officers who worked on things like traffic tickets sat at.
The longer that the pair walked through the precinct--and the longer Katrina spent looking at the signs--it became very clear that despite his easygoing and friendly demeanor, her superior was not a sociable person. Any questions were met with short answers--his calm tone made it difficult to ascertain that he would be acting in a negative manner, rather it was more noticeably just his personality.
In fact, Katrina was struggling to catch up with his confident stride, every step taking him several paces ahead, but he noticeably adjusted his pace when he realized she was falling behind. After covering every inch of the percent, the pair made their way back down to their assigned floor.
Inside the break room, it was much smaller compared to the rest of the building--it would’ve been considering it was just for third-floor employees. Standing tables dotted the floor, tall stools placed beside each one. A counter wrapped around the edge of one wall finished with a variety of kitchen appliances. Kaleb wasted no time, parting from her side to the counter that housed the coffee maker.
Katrina trailed obediently after, half expecting him to drink his coffee black. He didn’t, rather his first instinct was to grab more than several packets of creamer and sugar, throw them into the steaming mug and barely giving it just enough stirs to compensate for so many additives. Several heads swiveled to look at them, some curious--she sincerely hoped they were not questioning why she hadn’t been fired yet, or maybe even why her superior hadn’t flipped out on her judging by how everyone in the precinct seemed to talk about him.
From her spot at Kaleb’s side--with his back turned to her--she caught Adam standing across the room at one of the high tables, entertaining his minions so to speak. From her spot, she didn’t necessarily hear what was being said, only noticed that Adam expressed himself a lot with his hands. What kind of motion was he doing? Strangling a small animal?
Glancing sideways, Katrina realized that her superior had at least noticed--the quick glance sideways as he prepared his coffee was evidence enough of that--but the absence of aggression settled any nerves that she was having about another altercation on her behalf. Turning, the small of his back pressed against the counter, sipping from a steaming mug of dissolved sugar and cream, his eyes moved to his partner for the first time since his initial arrival a mere hour ago.
“I read your personal file.”
Having grabbed a water bottle from the vending machine, she choked on the little bit that she had managed to ingest.
“My personal file, sir? Um,” she stuttered. “Did-Did you find anything interesting in it? I’ve never seen it myself, I just-.”
It wasn’t that Katrina was upset. How could she be? Being who he was and if rumors served, then it was likely he was just paranoid about who was being shoved onto him so suddenly. She couldn’t be upset about that, but she did, however, feel suddenly paranoid about why he was bringing it up.
“We could talk about it. Away from everyone else. Maybe we could go back to our desks and I could answer any questions that you might have? Now that we’re partners, it would be nice to get to know each other.” A pit settled in the bottom of her stomach. Had she already messed up? Was he already making judgments based on what he read on paper? Katrina sincerely hoped not, but she couldn’t make out anything by looking at his face. It unnerved her.
And in true fashion--of what she’d considered normal in the last hour--his eyes darted away from her upon her request, He continuously sipped at his coffee before holding it to his chest. Those deep brown eyes harbored an amused glint, the free hand that wasn’t holding the coffee braced around his abdomen, supporting his other arm.
“No,” A corner of his mouth creased, and although he wasn’t looking at her, she could tell that his words were directed at her. His eyebrows raised as he voiced the simple statement, the mug then discarded to the counter at his side. “Nothing that is necessarily my business.”
Kaleb moved away from the counter, his head rotating around the break room as though he were taking a panoramic shot, lips parting as if to say something more but the brief pause eluded the fact that he had decided on something else. “Unless there is anything that you are wanting to ask me, otherwise I believe personal information should stay personal.” His eyelids fluttered, lips trembling as if he was hesitant to form the word as if it were some sort of foreign concept.
With that, his steps retreated along the outside perimeter of the room, coffee left behind--Katrina took the initiative to grab it for him--and trailed directly after.
“I-yes, Lieutenant. That all sounds just fine.” She faltered at that moment, attempting to take in everything that he had said. Walking in tandem--being much easier since Kaleb had pieced together her stride--she let her mind wander, distant stare focused on the back of his head. What made this agonizingly private lieutenant tick? She wasn’t so sure how she would even go about finding out. Polite yet firm, distant but passive-aggressive to the more deserved, knowledgeable but oblivious… This was going to be a long six months.
~~~~
The two sat in silence for several hours, their computer screens back to back with their desks practically connected. Her desk wasn’t new by any means. Scratches and indentations marred the surface, the hardwood faded from its original color. A rust ring lined the bottom legs from having hardly been moved, and she’d erupted into a coughing fit when she’d thrown folders down on it earlier before promptly wiping all the dust from its surface. She realized that Kaleb hadn’t been working with another intern for a while but damn.
The state of his desk was vastly different from hers. While it did show its signs of wear, it was completely absent of any sort of indication as to a life outside of the precinct. While everyone else’s had calendars marked with important dates, family pictures, or hobbies, the Lieutenant’s remained completely absent of anything besides common office supplies--except for a sticky note with a simple “Fuck You” written on it. No doubt from Adam Quinn…
Scrolling through the database--while it was preferable to moving papers between the floors--resulted in Katrina humming a tune to herself. She wasn’t looking for anything in particular, but Lieutenant Gray had yet to offer her any sort of task since that morning. Her mouth was watering looking through all of the open cases just begging to be investigated. A few names she scarcely recognized, most that deserved jail time and others who definitely had a relatively questionable history. For now, though, she would keep her mouth shut. Even though she had plans of her own for later, it wouldn’t have been right for her to stick her nose in other people’s business, at least not until she was official.
Stealing a glance over her computer monitor, she watched her superior. He was diligently writing something down on a notepad. He was focused, having glimpsed at the computer monitor before promptly scratching more down. Brown eyes flicked over the screen with practiced precision, index finger mindlessly scrolling the mouse wheel as he moved back and forth. His handwriting wasn’t very neat, she noticed but he was efficient.
A voice resounding across the precinct calling his title, however, forced her to retreat back to her seat as he looked up. Kaleb’s own spine hit the back of his chair to acknowledge the new arrival.
“Lieutenant,” Chief Gellar called as he approached. Relaxed, he seemed in a better mood and regarded Kaleb highly with a bright smile that always seemed native where the lieutenant was concerned. “Are the two of you settling in well? Any cause for concern?”
“Everything is going great, sir. I’m sure that the two of us will make a great pair.” Katrina replied rather timidly, mostly because Kaleb chose not to comment. A small huff escaped him, having not looked up from his monitor despite lounging back in his chair, one leg crossed across his lap, elbow perched on the side arms.
“Great. Well, anyway, I wanted to let both of you know that we finally got a location on Gomez. He’s going to be taking house at Club Gravity tonight. I didn’t want to have to pass this onto either of you, what with Ms. Reynolds still adjusting, but Harper got sick and left early this afternoon. I need an officer there to take that man down. Can the two of you handle it?”
“Sir,” Katrina breathed, the excitement of the possibility of her first time in the field almost getting the best of her. Of course, the captain wouldn’t respond to her--that would be left up to Kaleb--but she rounded in her chair to look at the lieutenant in anticipation, Gellar’s hands planted on the desk leaning forward.
“What do you think, Lieutenant?”
Looking up--and in between Katrina and Levi--and unless he was directly talking to her, it became noticeable he never spared a second glance. There were several instances that she had noticed his gaze moving behind her. He never commented on why.
“Ms. Reynolds can handle herself well enough for a drug bust. I’ll be there to keep an eye on her, and I’ll keep Officer Carlisle on standby.” He finished, rising into a standing position, straightening into a perfect posture while he fished his jacket from the back of his chair.
“I can always count on you, Gray. Keep it up, and you might be on the run for another promotion.” Nodding curtly, their captain turned on his heels and dismissed himself.
“This will be a bit unorthodox, so don’t let her out of your sight, just show her how it’s done.” He mused, already halfway across the precinct by then.
Excitement rippled through every part of Katrina’s being. At this point, she was unable to keep a bright smile from plastering itself across her face. That was when it dawned on her just what she was wearing.
“Hold on a second. I don’t know much about clubwear and all that but I am pretty sure a small purple cardigan wouldn’t be enough to hide my shirt that screams police intern…”
“If your concern lies with appropriate attire for arresting a drug fiend, I have no issue in stopping by your house so you can change,” Kaleb assured her, snatching his keys from his desk with a careful, calculated hand. “I’ll drive.”