Courtesy challenge entry
Jul. 3rd, 2003 02:34 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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ds_flashfictionLate for the last one, early for this one. It feels good to be writing. 1,133 words...a bit over the limit...you can beat me if you want. *g*
Courtesy Call
by JennyB.
“Vecchio! Before you take off.”
“What’s up, Lieu?”
Welsh handed me a single sheet of notepaper folded into quarters. “It’s the guy who’s replacing you while you’re gone. Do me a favor and drop by his place and give him a few pointers. He’s a good undercover guy, but it’d be a good idea if you had a face to face.”
“Aw, come on, Lieutenant. I got Feds showing up on my doorstep at eight tomorrow morning and you want me to spend my last night of freedom talking to some undercover cop?”
“The undercover cop who’ll be covering your sorry ass while you’re gone. Look, it’s your choice, Vecchio. I can’t make you do it because technically you don’t work for me as of ten minutes ago. I just thought it’d be nice. A courtesy call.”
Courtesy call, huh? What the hell. I didn’t have to spend more than fifteen minutes with this guy; just say hey and thanks for being me for a while. “Okay, okay. I’ll do it.”
“Name and address are on that paper. Watch your back, Ray.”
“Thank you, sir.”
I hefted my bag of crap and headed out, stuffing the paper in my sports coat. When I slid behind the wheel of the Riv, I finally unfolded the piece of paper and took a look at the lucky guy who was going to be playing Ray Vecchio.
Det. First Grade Stanley Raymond Kowalski
432 Holden Ave. Apt. 4C
312-555-7878
No fucking way. A grin spread across my face and I started the car, pointing it in the direction of the most amazing, laughable fucking coincidence since I turned out to be a dead ringer for a dead mob guy.
Thirty minutes in some crappy traffic and I pulled up at his building. Not where I remembered hearing he lived, but then if the rumor mill was reliable, he and his wife had been having problems. Maybe they’d gone the same route Ange and me did. The inter-precinct grapevine wasn’t exactly speedy, so it was possible that I just hadn’t heard about it.
I took the elevator up and stood at his door for about five minutes before I had the guts to knock. I waited. No answer. I knocked again a little louder. Still no answer. Fuck. Since I saw his name, I really wanted to see him.
“Been a hell of a long time, Vecchio.”
The familiar voice behind me made me turn around. He had a basket of laundry tucked against his left hip just above the sagging waistband of a pair of ratty gray sweatpants. The boxing magazine on top of the clean clothes told me he was definitely split from Stella. She’d made him quit when they got married. She’d made him quit a few other things, too.
“Yeah, it has.”
Kowalski nodded towards his apartment door. “Come on in. I got coffee.”
He set the basket on the floor just inside the door and padded to the kitchen to pour me some coffee. I followed him and stood right behind him like we were two magnets and I had no choice but to be drawn with him.
I lifted my hands and brushed them over his shoulders and suddenly I wanted things I knew I couldn’t have. I wanted to stay here, stay in Chicago and not take the job. I wanted to not let this man who knew me way too well to live my life for me. I wanted to be here to live it with him.
But instead of telling him all the things I wanted, I just asked, “Is this okay?” while he finished pouring.
He lifted his head and leaned back against me, letting a soft laugh escape. “It always was. Why wouldn’t it be now?”
“Like you said, it’s been a hell of a long time.”
A memory makes his smile widen and I’m pretty sure I know what he’s thinking about. “Jesus, were we ever really that young?”
I laughed into the soft blond spikes that hadn’t changed much in fifteen years.
“So, what is this, Ray?”
“What is what?”
“This. This visit. What is this? Why are you here?”
I heard no challenge or anger in his voice, just the question I didn’t quite know how to answer. So I used Welsh’s words. “Courtesy call to the guy that’s gonna be me for the next few months.”
“Courtesy, huh?” he asked, straightening up and away from me an inch or two. “That all it is?”
“I don’t know.” I didn’t. Fuck. Being near him made me remember the things I gave up at twenty to be a straight, married cop. Things I’d learned to want again working with Benny but was afraid to ask for.
Kowalski reached around to grab my right hand and press it to the front of his sweatpants so I could feel him start to get hard. “It can be this if you want.” I guess I wasn’t the only one who missed it.
Immediately my hand was down the front of his pants palming his growing hard-on and my mouth was moving over the back of his neck. “You got what we need?” I asked, starting to gently hump against his back while I massaged him from the front.
“All that and a bag of chips.”
“Good.”
We practically flew to the bedroom, stripping as we went. About fifteen minutes later my knees were in the air and Kowalski was inching his way inside me. Another twenty minutes and we were a come-covered heap on the bed. When we separated, I felt emptier than I had in fifteen years.
For a minute I wished he hadn’t used a condom so I could keep part of him with me for a little while longer. Anything to hold on to a little bit of my life here. But the ache would be there for a couple of days and that’d get me through my briefings with the Feds. I’ll I’d have to do is shift in my chair and remember who I was.
He kissed my hair, my chin, my neck and chest before he let me go. I got up and got dressed without a word. When I was ready to go, I heard his voice beside me. His hand rested in the center of my chest while he spoke.
“You comin’ back?”
“I hope so.”
He smiled at me, warm and sure. “I’ll be here.”
I smiled back and covered his hand with mine. “Thanks, Ray.”
I finally kissed his mouth, standing in the doorway of his bedroom, me fully clothed, him still buck-naked. I hoped he felt the things I couldn’t bring myself to say. I’d say them when I got back.
I had to make it back.
Courtesy Call
by JennyB.
“Vecchio! Before you take off.”
“What’s up, Lieu?”
Welsh handed me a single sheet of notepaper folded into quarters. “It’s the guy who’s replacing you while you’re gone. Do me a favor and drop by his place and give him a few pointers. He’s a good undercover guy, but it’d be a good idea if you had a face to face.”
“Aw, come on, Lieutenant. I got Feds showing up on my doorstep at eight tomorrow morning and you want me to spend my last night of freedom talking to some undercover cop?”
“The undercover cop who’ll be covering your sorry ass while you’re gone. Look, it’s your choice, Vecchio. I can’t make you do it because technically you don’t work for me as of ten minutes ago. I just thought it’d be nice. A courtesy call.”
Courtesy call, huh? What the hell. I didn’t have to spend more than fifteen minutes with this guy; just say hey and thanks for being me for a while. “Okay, okay. I’ll do it.”
“Name and address are on that paper. Watch your back, Ray.”
“Thank you, sir.”
I hefted my bag of crap and headed out, stuffing the paper in my sports coat. When I slid behind the wheel of the Riv, I finally unfolded the piece of paper and took a look at the lucky guy who was going to be playing Ray Vecchio.
Det. First Grade Stanley Raymond Kowalski
432 Holden Ave. Apt. 4C
312-555-7878
No fucking way. A grin spread across my face and I started the car, pointing it in the direction of the most amazing, laughable fucking coincidence since I turned out to be a dead ringer for a dead mob guy.
Thirty minutes in some crappy traffic and I pulled up at his building. Not where I remembered hearing he lived, but then if the rumor mill was reliable, he and his wife had been having problems. Maybe they’d gone the same route Ange and me did. The inter-precinct grapevine wasn’t exactly speedy, so it was possible that I just hadn’t heard about it.
I took the elevator up and stood at his door for about five minutes before I had the guts to knock. I waited. No answer. I knocked again a little louder. Still no answer. Fuck. Since I saw his name, I really wanted to see him.
“Been a hell of a long time, Vecchio.”
The familiar voice behind me made me turn around. He had a basket of laundry tucked against his left hip just above the sagging waistband of a pair of ratty gray sweatpants. The boxing magazine on top of the clean clothes told me he was definitely split from Stella. She’d made him quit when they got married. She’d made him quit a few other things, too.
“Yeah, it has.”
Kowalski nodded towards his apartment door. “Come on in. I got coffee.”
He set the basket on the floor just inside the door and padded to the kitchen to pour me some coffee. I followed him and stood right behind him like we were two magnets and I had no choice but to be drawn with him.
I lifted my hands and brushed them over his shoulders and suddenly I wanted things I knew I couldn’t have. I wanted to stay here, stay in Chicago and not take the job. I wanted to not let this man who knew me way too well to live my life for me. I wanted to be here to live it with him.
But instead of telling him all the things I wanted, I just asked, “Is this okay?” while he finished pouring.
He lifted his head and leaned back against me, letting a soft laugh escape. “It always was. Why wouldn’t it be now?”
“Like you said, it’s been a hell of a long time.”
A memory makes his smile widen and I’m pretty sure I know what he’s thinking about. “Jesus, were we ever really that young?”
I laughed into the soft blond spikes that hadn’t changed much in fifteen years.
“So, what is this, Ray?”
“What is what?”
“This. This visit. What is this? Why are you here?”
I heard no challenge or anger in his voice, just the question I didn’t quite know how to answer. So I used Welsh’s words. “Courtesy call to the guy that’s gonna be me for the next few months.”
“Courtesy, huh?” he asked, straightening up and away from me an inch or two. “That all it is?”
“I don’t know.” I didn’t. Fuck. Being near him made me remember the things I gave up at twenty to be a straight, married cop. Things I’d learned to want again working with Benny but was afraid to ask for.
Kowalski reached around to grab my right hand and press it to the front of his sweatpants so I could feel him start to get hard. “It can be this if you want.” I guess I wasn’t the only one who missed it.
Immediately my hand was down the front of his pants palming his growing hard-on and my mouth was moving over the back of his neck. “You got what we need?” I asked, starting to gently hump against his back while I massaged him from the front.
“All that and a bag of chips.”
“Good.”
We practically flew to the bedroom, stripping as we went. About fifteen minutes later my knees were in the air and Kowalski was inching his way inside me. Another twenty minutes and we were a come-covered heap on the bed. When we separated, I felt emptier than I had in fifteen years.
For a minute I wished he hadn’t used a condom so I could keep part of him with me for a little while longer. Anything to hold on to a little bit of my life here. But the ache would be there for a couple of days and that’d get me through my briefings with the Feds. I’ll I’d have to do is shift in my chair and remember who I was.
He kissed my hair, my chin, my neck and chest before he let me go. I got up and got dressed without a word. When I was ready to go, I heard his voice beside me. His hand rested in the center of my chest while he spoke.
“You comin’ back?”
“I hope so.”
He smiled at me, warm and sure. “I’ll be here.”
I smiled back and covered his hand with mine. “Thanks, Ray.”
I finally kissed his mouth, standing in the doorway of his bedroom, me fully clothed, him still buck-naked. I hoped he felt the things I couldn’t bring myself to say. I’d say them when I got back.
I had to make it back.
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