Long Way

I walked into my house after work and found it empty except for Willa, who was dozing on the chaise. There were two notes on the counter. The first was from Shawn, telling me that his dad was back home and that he was moving out. I had already talked to Matthew earlier in the day, so I figured that he would be gone by the time I got home. The second note was from Declan.

D, going to Lawrence to check in on Mo after work. Don't wait up for me. - D.

I tossed both notes in the garbage and and went into the bedroom to change out of my work clothes. When I came out, Willa was up from her nap and staring at her food dish.

"Girls night in, Willa," I told her. She perked her ears up at me and cocked her head a little. I smiled at her and fluffed up her ears, then filled her food dish with kibble.

While she gobbled down her food, I opened up my freezer and took out a Lean Cuisine frozen dinner and popped it in the microwave. While my food was cooking I put my black hair up in a clip so it was off my shoulders. The microwave beeped and I scrambled over to take my dinner out. Sesame Chicken, yum yum.

Willa and I went into the living room and settled into our places. Me, on the couch with my food and a glass of wine that my dad gave me. And her, on the chaise, watching for me to drop any food on the floor.

I flipped the TV onto a repeat of Keeping Up With The Kardashian's, and we watched the show together in complete silence. After I ate, I finished my glass of wine and poured myself another. It was about 7:30. I had no idea when to expect Declan, and I wasn't really worried about it. This was the first night in I can't remember when that I was by myself in my house.

I found myself waking up a little while later to my cell phone ringing. I looked at the clock and saw that it was 9:45 and one of the Kardashian's was sticking mini-pad's to her mother's clothing.

"Hello?" I said into the phone.

"Our guy just hit two accounts. They called in within minutes of each other." Martin.

"How is that possible?"

"Both clients were at the same dinner party. Did you just wake up?"

"No," I lied.

"Ramon is on his way to pick you up and take you to the first account, and you'll meet me at the second."

"OK, I'll be ready." He hung up and I did the same, throwing my black trench coat on and putting my phone in my purse. By the time I got out onto my back porch, Ramon was pulling in the driveway.

"What's the story?" I asked him when I get in the car.

"Same M.O. as the others." He handed me a piece of paper with two addresses on it.

"These were both on my high-risk list."

"Why?"

"They had several things in common with the other homes that have been broken into."

"Like?"

"No on street parking, the clients aren't home in the evenings much. Things like that."

"No on street parking means our guy likes privacy."

"Exactly."

We drove in silence the rest of the way. The whole time I'm thinking, there goes my nice peaceful night at home alone.

Ramon pulls into the first clients home and I see cops everywhere, scoping things out.

We get out of the car and go inside. We talk to the homeowners and ask a few questions, then we talk to one of the cops. This is getting to be predictable. Client's were out at the time of the robbery, the robber's came in through the garage and walked straight to where they were going, as if they'd been there before and knew what they were after. In this case, a wall safe full of cash, jewelry and private documents. Probably all grabbed and stuffed into a bag without ever being looked at. The wall safe had a code that was kept on a piece of paper hidden in a desk drawer, easily found right next to the safe.

There was a keypad to the alarm system next to the garage entrance and at the front door, just like the others. Ramon and I observed this together.

"I just feel like these keypads are holding the evidence that we're after," I told him.

"I do too. It's like someone is in the walls watching or something. None of these pad's are visible from the windows."

"And there was never any evidence outside of the homes to make this look like someone was peeping."

"Nope."

We wrap things up with the homeowners and the cops, then we get back in the car and head off to meet Martin.

We pulled in and parked next to his Turbo, and met him in the front entry way of the house.

"Same M.O.?" I asked.

"Same. A collection of vintage photography equipment was taken, and a tennis bracelet that was in the teenage daughter's bedroom."

Martin wrapped things up, and the three of us walked out to the cars together.

"Are the police making any progress on these robberies?" I asked.

"Not that I can tell. Not a lot of talent assigned to this desk."

"It's odd that they were hit together. That's never happened before."

"More man hours on their part. Somehow, our bandit knew that both houses were going to be empty, which goes against my idea that he just randomly targeted houses that were dark. This makes me think that he plans ahead. We need to go over the original reports from after each house was broken into, see if there were any common service provider's, someone who might have talked to the homeowner and found out that kind of information. And we probably want to go back and re-interview all of the client's who were robbed."

"That still doesn't tell us how they got the codes."

"Trust me, if I catch this guy, he'll tell me how he got the codes."

"What are you going to do now?"

"Chances are, this guy is done for the night, but I'm not going to take any chances. I want twenty-four hour surveillance on all the homes that are on your high-risk list."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Nothing. It's late. I'll have Ramon take you home. Thank you for coming out."

By the time we get back to my place, it's after midnight. I'm surprised to see that Declan still isn't home. I shook my head. It seems weird to call this Declan's home. I don't think he really has a home these days.

I went inside and and took my coat off, hanging it on the hook behind the back door, along with my purse.

Willa was asleep, still watching the Kardashian's. I pet her gently, then turned the TV off, and went into my bedroom.

I took off my jeans and my bra, leaving me in just my panties and a faded white Metallica t-shirt that my little brother bought me for my birthday one year. I took my hair out of it's clip, letting it fall in waves around my shoulders, combing it a little with my finger's. I turned Elton John's Honky Chateau album on my CD player and listened to it quietly.

I was just about to walk out to the bathroom to wash my make-up off when I heard a quiet knock on my bedroom door. It startled me a little, since I hadn't heard anyone come in.

I walked over and pressed my ear to the door.

"Who is it?"

"Me," Declan replied softly. I opened the door and saw him standing there, wearing jeans and a grease stained grey zip-up sweatshirt.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey. How was Mo?" He shook his head and his mouth formed a straight line.

"Not good, eh?"

"Not really. He's all nervous that Belsi's guys might have followed me down there."

"Did you tell him that you got in a fight with them?"

"No."

"Why?"

"You know Mo. He never liked all that fighting crap. He worried."

"Can you blame him?"

"No," he said with a small smile.

"So what are you going to do?"

"I'm gonna go get him tomorrow after work and bring him back to the city so I can keep a better eye on him."

"You don't think anyone will notice if he's here?"

"He'll keep a low profile." I nod.

"He said for me to tell you hi, and that he misses you." I smiled.

"He said for me not to screw things up this time." I looked down at my bare feet, and realized for the first time that I was half naked. I didn't worry about it too much though. Declan's seen it all before, many, many times.

He reached into his sweatshirt pocket and pulled out a small box, and held it out towards me.

"Happy anniversary." I gave him a confused look, then realized that at midnight it became mine and Declan's un-official anniversary. We've never been married or engaged, so we just picked a day soon after we first got together, and have celebrated almost every year. I honestly forgot all about it this year, especially since we haven't been together for a while.

"I forgot all about it."

"I figured."

"I didn't get you anything."

"I don't care," he said with a grin. I looked down at the box, it was obviously jewelry of some sort.

"What is this?"

"Open it and see."

"I didn't get you anything," I said again.

"Just open it, D." I looked up at him. I could see the gold chain that I bought him one year peeking out around his neck. I knew that under his shirt was a gold anchor crucifix that I bought for his birthday the same year.

I popped open the box and saw a gold flat omega necklace. My chin dropped a little, and I felt my eyebrows raise.

"Declan, it's beautiful."

"Do you like it?"

"Where did you get this?"

"At a jewelry store."

"This is expensive, you can't afford this!"

"It's already paid for. I've been making payments on it for a while."

"Oh my gosh."

"It's like the one you wanted, right?"

"Yes. I can't believe you remembered, that was forever ago."

"I don't ever forget things, you know that, D." I stared at the necklace in awe.

"Here, let's put it on you," he said. I carefully took the necklace out of the box and he took it from me. I turned around in front of him and held my hair up as he clasped it around my neck. He let my hair fall, and I turned around to face him.

"It's beautiful," he said, touching it with his finger. A chill went up my spine when he touched me, and we both looked up at each other.

"Mo told me not to screw this up this time," he said. I don't say anything.

"He's always wanted us to make it work, and I always do something to fuck things up for us."

"It's not always just you."

"Yeah it is. We both know it is." We both look down at the floor, and I feel him put his hand on my shoulder.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"Declan, I want different things in my life. I want to settle down, and have a family. I'm getting older, you know?"

"I'm getting older too."

"And I can't just be in a relationship, where there's nothing more involved than just sex, I can't do it anymore. My heart can't take it. Because everytime you come back I fall in love with you, and then it doesn't work."

"Because of me." He sighed and looked down at me.

"I want you so bad, Diana." I tilted my head back and he took advantage immediately coming on to me. He pushed me against the doorjamb and kissed me hard. I had no control over myself, and I kissed him back. I wanted him just as bad as he said he wanted me. Truth is I probably wanted him that bad since he showed up on my door step.

He started to pull me away from the doorjamb and into the bedroom, and I grabbed at the door handle and forced us to stop where we were. My mind was coming back into it, and was screaming at me to make this stop before it went any further.

I pulled my face away from his and pushed at his stomach, but he came towards me more.

"No, stop. Please." He pulled away from me and looked down, both of us grasping at the door handle. We were both breathing hard.

"I'm sorry," Declan said.

"No, I'm sorry." He shook his head at me, and kissed me on the forehead.

"Happy anniversary, D," he said, turning and walking off towards the living room.

I looked out and saw Willa standing in the kitchen. She must have woke up when he came home. She gave me a look, then looked towards the living room.

"Come to bed, girl," I said softly to her, my words shaky. She pulled her ears back and jogged into the living room.

I don't blame her. I would have preferred his company to mine too.

I closed my bedroom door and stood with my back against it for a few minutes, then I ran and jumped into my bed, pulling the blankets up to my ears. I tried to block everything out that just happened. I tried to block my heart out that was yelling at me to go get him and be with him.

"You can't do this again, Diana. You can't," I said to myself. I could almost hear all the people in my life saying the same thing in my head. I was going crazy. Martin popped into my head then, and all I could think about was what I said to Declan.

I can't be in a relationship that is just sex, and that's all a relationship with Martin would be because he can't commit his life to anyone right now. In all reality though, a relationship with Declan wouldn't be much different. At least it hasn't been up to this point. I want to go with my heart and try things with Declan again, but I don't want to risk getting hurt again if he leaves.

"You can't do this again, Diana. You can't."