Every Second Counts

I heard my phone start ringing, indicating my alarm was going off and I needed to get out of bed so I could get ready for work. I groaned, rolling over in bed, accidentally hitting Kris in the chest with my arm as I stretched out. “Just stay two more minutes,” he mumbled into my hair, wrapping his arm around me, pulling me closer to him.

“I can’t,” I told him, scooting out of his grasp. “I’ve got to be at work at nine, and I need to head back to my place so I can change clothes, since someone wouldn’t let me go home last night,” I added with a playful glare.

“Like you wanted to go back to that empty apartment last night after we took a shower to get rid of all of that ridiculous perfume you had put on,” he smirked at me, and I couldn’t argue with him, as I did in fact rather spend the night with Kris than by myself. “What time do you get off today?” he asked me.

“Probably around seven or so. It depends on how far we get with this case,” I answered. “Why?”

“I head to Minnesota tomorrow,” he reminded me. I slapped my forehead, angry at myself forgetting that my boyfriend was leaving for a road trip tomorrow.

“Shit, Kris, I totally forgot!” I admitted. “I’ll try to get off early tonight, I promise.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Kris told me. “I know you guys are swamped at work,” he said, and it was true. It never seemed like we had enough people working in the crime lab. It seemed like every time we’d close a case, we’d get a call about a new murder, and we never seemed to catch up. I gave him a small smile, happy that he understood me and my life. “Besides, we can always do something when I get back.”

“I’ll make sure to get off when you get back. In fact, how about I take the whole day off. You guys get back at what? Two in the morning?” I asked him, and he nodded. “How about I come on up here when you get back, and we can spend the whole next day in bed,” I suggested.

“I like that idea,” he told me, pulling me in close and kissing me. I groaned, indicating that I really needed to leave. “Call me tonight if you get a chance,” he told me.

“I will,” I said, giving him one last kiss before I headed to my condo to get a change of clothes before going to work.

I walked into the crime lab to see Fiona and Reed already in there, going over one of the cases. “Hey,” Fiona smiled when she saw me come in. “You don’t smell anymore,” she added, and I gave her a sarcastic smile.

“Aw, thanks!” I told her. “Let’s just say Kris and I spent a long time in the shower last night trying to get rid of that smell,” I smirked at her, knowing she’d get what I was talking about.

“Damn, he’s a lucky bastard,” Reed muttered in the corner, and I rolled my eyes at him before sitting down next to Fiona.

“Hey, when did you first meet Parker’s parents?” I asked her, my mind still on the news Kris had given me last night about his mother coming for the holidays. I didn’t know why I was dwelling on it so much, but something in my gut was telling me that this wasn’t going to be my favorite Christmas by far.

“Umm,” Fiona began, trying to think about the answer. “I met them before Parker and I started dating. They came to the crime lab to see him one day, and he introduced me to them quickly. After we started dating, I saw them again probably a couple of months into our relationship. Why? Is Kris introducing you to his parents?” she asked excitedly.

“Yeah,” I sighed. “He told me last night that his mother was going to come for the holidays, and I guess he wants me to meet her and all that fun stuff,” I told her.

“And, you’re not happy about that why?” she asked me.

“I don’t really know,” I answered honestly. “I just feel like she’s not going to think I’m good enough for him or something. I mean, Kris and my relationship has been so good lately—I mean really, really good—and now I’m just worried that she’s going to come in, tell him that she hates me, and he’s going to break up with me or something.”

“Mara, why would she hate you?” Fiona questioned. “It’s not like you’re some whore who’s only with Kris because he plays for the Blackhawks or something. And, don’t you think it’s a good thing that he wants to introduce you to his mom? I mean, it’s kind of like taking the next step in your relationship, don’t you think? Right, Reed?” she asked, turning around in her chair, looking at Reed to back her up.

“Huh?” Reed asked, looking up from the file he was reading. “Oh, yeah, right,” he said, seeing the look Fiona was sending his way. “Next step in the relationship. Unless you don’t want to take that next step,” he added. “I mean, you can always break up with Kris now and get with me,” he smirked.

“No, thank you, Reed. I think I’m going to stick with Kris,” I said. “Okay, enough talking about that. What’d you get on the fingerprints from yesterday?” I asked, walking over to him, looking over his shoulder to read the file, seeing if they had gotten a match on the fingerprints.

“Millicent Chandler,” Reed stated, referring to who the fingerprints belonged to. “Parker found out that she was the vic’s girlfriend. The vic’s brother says they’ve been fighting a lot lately,” Reed explained.

“Okay, so the fighting turned worse and Millicent decides to kill her boyfriend. Whatever he did or said must have been pretty bad for her to kill him,” I spoke.

“Fi found out that Millicent owns a gun, too. The exact same type that was used to shoot the vic,” Reed continued, and a small smile formed on my face, as I realized that this should be an easy case. All we needed now was Millicent to confess.

“Have you brought her in yet?” I asked.

“They’re getting her right now. Davis is meeting Detective Jacobs down there to talk to her,” Reed said. “So, my guess is that in an hour, she’ll have confessed to murder.”

“She better have,” I muttered, sitting down next to Reed.

Just as Reed had predicted, an hour later, Davis walked back into the lab, telling all of us that Millicent had confessed to murdering our victim. “She said that their fight got a little out of hand. He started pushing her, and they ended up on the balcony. They were yelling, and he apparently slapped her and she pushed him off the balcony. She claims it was an accident, but that’s for the jury to decide. I still don’t know why she decided to shoot him afterwards, but as far as we’re concerned, this case is closed,” Davis told us.

“Well, that was an easy one,” Reed muttered.

The rest of the day seemed to go by fairly fast, as I began helping Fiona and Logan on a case they had been working on for about a week. I glanced at the clock on the wall, seeing that I had about five more minutes before my scheduled shift was finished. By some miracle, we hadn’t gotten a call about a murder, and it seemed like I might actually get to have dinner with Kris before he left.

“Hey, Mara, can I talk to you a minute?” Parker asked, sticking his head into the lab. I nodded my head, walking outside into the hallway, where Parker was standing. “Fi’s gone, right?” he asked.

“Yeah, she left about an hour ago,” I replied, nodding my head. “Why?” He pulled me into another room, grabbing something out of his pocket. My eyes went wide as I saw what appeared to be a ring box. He opened it up and sitting inside was a beautiful diamond engagement ring. “Oh. My. God,” I whispered, grabbing the box out of his hand, taking a closer look at the ring. “When?” I asked, hoping he understood what I was asking since at the moment I couldn’t form full coherent sentences.

“I’m asking her on Christmas Day,” he answered, and I looked up at him, a wide smile on my face. “Or do you think that’s too cliché and she’ll hate it?” he suddenly asked, taking my moment of silence as a bad thing.

“No!” I exclaimed. “She’ll love it! I promise. And, before you ask, yes, she’ll say yes,” I added.

“I wasn’t worried about that,” Parker said sarcastically. “But, thank you.”

“Seriously, Parker, I’m so happy for you guys!” I exclaimed, giving him a hug. They had been dating for well over a year, and I thought it was about time that they got engaged. Besides, I knew that Fiona had been wanting Parker to propose for a while now, as every time someone she knew would get engaged, she would always wonder if Parker was going to do so.

“Thanks,” he told me sincerely, opening the door and ushering me out first. “Hey, aren’t you out of here?” he asked, looking at the clock in the hallway.

“Yes, I am,” I said happily. “I just have to grab my jacket in the lab, and then I’m off. I actually get to have dinner with Kris again tonight before he leaves for Minnesota tomorrow,” I told Parker as we walked into the lab.

“Well, have a good time,” he told me as I found my jacket on the back of the seat in the corner of the room. I snatched it up, heading towards the door when it was suddenly opened by Davis. I stared at him, hoping that he wasn’t coming in there for what I expected him to be.

“We’ve got a double murder down on south Halstead,” he announced, and I sighed to myself, throwing my jacket back on the seat, knowing I was going to be here all night.

“So much for that dinner,” I muttered under my breath, and Parker gave me a sympathetic smile as we walked down to the locker room so we could get our coats before going outside with Davis to the car.

“Sorry about tonight,” Parker told me as I got into the backseat of the car, with Parker sitting up front and Davis driving.

“You had plans for tonight?” Davis asked, and I nodded my head. “Sorry, Mara, I know you were technically out of here, but you know what it’s like,” he said, pulling out into the street.

“Yeah, I know we’re understaffed,” I said. “Besides, Kris already knows this, and he was the one that told me not to worry if I didn’t get out. Though, Davis, I will tell you now that I’m going to take next Thursday off no matter what. I’m not coming in that day,” I told him, remembering I had told Kris that he and I would stay in all day that day when he came back.

“That’s fine,” Davis nodded his head. “What do you got planned for that day?” he asked.

“Kris gets back from the road trip. I just want to spend the day with him,” I replied, and Davis nodded his head, obviously okay with that answer. I sat back in my seat, grabbing my cell phone and texting Kris, telling him that I wouldn’t be making it to dinner that night since we had just gotten a call about a murder.

Moments later, I got a response from him. That’s fine. I’ll see you next Thurs. Text me when you get home tonight.. I smiled to myself when I read the last line, not surprised to see it. Kris always liked to have me call or text him whenever I got home from work while he was on the road. I had asked him about it one time, and he told me he was just worried about me and then had proceeded to tell me jokingly that he wanted to know when I died as soon as possible so that he could prepare a song for my funeral.

I texted him back that I would, and stared out the window, wondering how bad this crime scene would be. A little while later, we pulled into a parking space on the side of the street, and all three of us got out of the car. “Let’s see what we got, boys,” I said, leading the way towards the crime scene.