Dying Embers

Brett and Don walked into Sythe's office, ready to hear what he'd had to say.
"First off, good job sealing up the narco-homi. Second off, you both have heard about the killer escaping from Charleston. Detective Arthur Smith has decided to send two of his own detectives who were on the case to come and work with us to catch them", Sythe said, leaning back in his chair. A thrill shot through Brett. Who was being chosen?
"Do you know who he's sending?" she asked excitedly. Sythe handed her the folder. Brett scanned the names with eager eyes and tried to suppress a squeal.
Homicide Detective Second Grade Abigail Silver. Brett's best friend.
Homicide Detective Second Grade Richard 'Easy' Messerschmidt. Brett's heart sank at the last name. She and Easy weren't on good terms last time they'd spoken. Their massive argument had prompted Brett to take the job with the NYPD.

"You know them, then?" Sythe asked, carefully reading Brett's reaction. She nodded.
"Yeah, they were on my team. Detective Messerschmidt was my partner", she replied, swallowing. The granola bar she'd eaten earlier threatened to come back up.
"When are they coming?" she asked.
"They arrive at noon and coming straight here. Fox, I expect you to treat Detective Messerschmidt the same way you treat your current partner. Detective Smith told me about your history and I will not tolerate any sort of unprofessional-ism in this precinct. Am I understood?" Sythe said.
"Yes sir", Brett replied. She could tell Don's eyes were boring straight into her.
"Flack, I expect you to treat our newcomers the same way you treat your teammates. I shouldn't have to brief you two, but you two are responsible for Detectives Silver and Messerschmidt. Which means any shenanigans will be put on your records", Sythe said to Don. Brett and her partner nodded mutely and walked out.
"What'd you and Detective Messerschmidt argue about?" Don asked. Brett looked away.
"I really don't want to answer that", she replied.

"Well, we have two hours until they arrive", he said. She shrugged and continued her paperwork. Suddenly, the doors flew open and Brett whirled around to see who it was. Two very familiar figures stood in the doorway. Abbey had a cocky smirk on her face, her hands on her hips. Brett smiled widely, got up, and limped as fast as she could to her best friend, throwing her arms around the taller woman and nearly knocking her to the ground.
"Abbey!" she squealed. It was extremely unprofessional to hug someone publicly, but Sythe just gave her an amused smile. He'd understood. Brett hadn't seen her former co-workers in months. No excuse, but the Charleston PD friendship's loyalty ran deeper than NYPD.
"Brett! Oh my God, I missed you so much!" Abbey drawled. Easy was looking down awkwardly. Abbey and Brett both locked eyes and chorused: "Bless your heart!"
"Hi, Easy", Brett said, extending a hand. Easy gave her his crooked smile and hugged her tightly. Needless to say, she knew their argument had been forgotten.
"Detective Silver, Detective Messerschmidt, I'm Detective Sythe", Sythe said, shaking their hands.

"Detective Flack, I'm Fox's partner", Don said, shaking Easy's hand. Brett noticed Easy clench his jaw the tiniest bit. He viewed Don as a threat. Don viewed him as a threat. Not good. Not good at all.
"I'm Detective Messerschmidt, just call me Easy", Easy replied. He snaked his arm around Brett's waist.
"C'mon, I ain't seen hide nor hair o' you in almost five months, and I don't get a hug?" Easy said, opening his arms.
"Save it for when we're off the clock, Easy", Brett replied with a smile. He rolled his eyes and muttered a 'fine then'.
"Well, introduce us to our team, Buster. We'll be workin' close on this case, I may as well get to know everyone here", Abbey said.
"By the way, we go by last names here, so don't be surprised if someone calls you 'Silver'. They call me 'Fox'", Brett replied, ushering her former co-workers after her.
"By the way, girl, you got one HOT partner", Abbey whispered in Brett's ear. Brett felt a sour pit of jealousy in her stomach and felt like slapping Abbey for a minute. She shrugged, as if she hadn't noticed.
"He's a good cop, we work well together", she replied nonchalantly. She sat down at her desk, massaging the area by the bullet wound, gritting her teeth in pain as she tried to relax the stiffened muscles. She had to change the bandage soon.
"You alright?" Don asked. Brett nodded, trying not to focus on him. His thick New York accent always sent shivers down her spine.
"Yeah, my leg's just stiffing up on me", she replied. She looked at the envelope he set on her desk.
"Ooh, what'd you bring me?" she asked with a teasing smile.
"Sythe wants you to participate in the date auction this October", he replied.

"Oh, shoot, I was going to bid on that really hot fireman at FDNY", Brett teased. Don frowned.
"What fireman? O'Malley?" he said. It wasn't a secret that Don Flack and Chris O'Malley didn't get along. Any time they came into contact on a case, heated words were exchanged and arguments always ensued.
"Yes, Flack. I was bidding on O'Malley", Brett replied sarcastically. She was tired of constantly being caught in the middle of their spats.
"That's traitorous right there, Fox", Don said, walking off. Brett rolled her eyes and went back to paperwork.
"Seriously, how can you not flirt with him?" Abbey whispered.
"Easy, I don't. He's my superior and my partner, I love my job here and I don't want to have to leave homicide", Brett replied back in a whisper.
"Oh, Silver, I'm going to show you and Messerschmidt around the precinct after lunch, since Fox's an invalid", Don called. Brett flipped him the one-finger salute. She stood up and limped to the locker room to change her bandage. She opened her locker, pulling out the gauze, tape, and salve, and pulled up her pant leg. She'd gotten special permission to wear gaucho pants so she could change her bandage.

She winced while pulling the bandage off. The angry red wound tied up with black stitching glared back up at her. Brett rubbed the salve on her thigh, trying not to look. The salve smelled horrible.
"You okay, Fox?" she heard someone call. It was Don.
"Yeah, Flack, I'm fine, just changing my bandage", she called. She tossed the dirty bandage, pressed a clean one to the wound, and taped it carefully. She looked up and saw him.
"Having a bad day?" he asked. Brett shrugged.
"As good a day as any. Thanks for your help earlier on with all this", she replied, looking down. She tried to swallow her words back and pushed past him. He grabbed her arm and swung her around. She backed up against the wall.
"What's wrong?" he asked, putting his arm up to stop her.
"Nothing's wrong, Flack", Brett replied. She could tell by the skeptical look in his eyes that he knew she was lying.
"Nothing's wrong", she repeated. He leaned down so his lips were inches from hers.
"You're a really bad liar", he replied. She could barely hear him over the sound of her heart crashing in her chest.
"Or you're just very presumptuous", Brett said. She didn't sound as venomous as she wanted to, it came out more as a breathless squeak. He wanted to know what was wrong and she couldn't tell him.