Cath Trilogy: Hey Jane

As Jane reread the profile that was written on an Adam Fisher, Rhys threw a stress ball into the air and caught it. Rhys' desk was a collection of balled up pieces of paper, two unfinished cups of coffee and a laptop which was half closed and had some paper stacked on the keyboard. On the other hand, Jane's desk was caught between Aubrey's O.C.D. heaven and Rhys' slob. The mess was not on her desk, but instead of letting the mess spread to her desk, she just shoved all the papers and things she wouldn't use into the drawers of her desk. Rhys had often joked that one day Jane was going to open the drawer and something would be alive in it. Their desks faced one another and Jane had a view of the rest of the office including the elevator for the department was located on the fifth and final floor while Rhys could see Aubrey's office, but the door was mostly closed.

"Aubrey said you had connections," Jane recalled not looking up from what she was reading.

Rhys was surprised when she spoke, and the stress ball fell onto his forehead. After wincing with surprise of the impact, Rhys said, "Yeah, I know the family when I was a teenager. The father was my World History teacher for two years in a row. That man changed my life," Rhys got a sort of absent look on his face, and he began to stare into an abyss.

Jane didn't disturb him but kept reading from the file. "Did you know their daughter?" Jane asked out of the blue after what seemed like an eternity of silence.

Rhys blinked in surprise at the question and stammered for an answer, "Yeah, I knew Catherine." A dry laughter escaped his throat, "Hell, I used to watch over her while they had their 'Adult Time'."

Jane smiled a little at the way Rhys made air quotes and a face to accompany the words. Something seemed to wash over her, but she told herself to press it down and think the thought at a later time. "So, you watched the kid while the parents had sex?" Jane finally put the case file down and began to half swivel in her chair just enough to causer a little bit of movement. "I never thought of you as the nanny type."

Rhys let out another laughter, only this time it was the type that filled the entire room and bounced off of the walls, "I was fucking amazing. I only managed to make her need hospital treatment once."

"What?" Jane was filled with awe as Rhys said the words.

Rhys went to story telling mode which consisted of making his words like silk and nonchalantly leaning back in his chair. "You see, we were at the park after her parents begged me to take her off their hands for a few hours. I mean, they loved the girl to death... bad pun... but they still wanted to have mass amounts of sex. So, we were at the park, and she was about four years old. She wanted to go on the swings, and I thought she looked a little lonely without anyone to play with.

"Being the match maker that I am, I decided to call my girlfriend because I knew that she had a little brother, and I assumed that since they were both kids, they would get along just fine," Rhys let out a dry laughter at the memory. "That was probably one of my worst idea, and you know that I have had many bad ideas.

"So, my girlfriend, oh, her name was Amie and I were talking as Cath and the other kid, I can't seem to remember his name, were playing. They were just doing some random shit, so Amie and I thought they were alright on their own and started making out on a bench..." his thought drifted off as her remembered the girl.

"Oi," Jane threw the stress ball he had been throwing which had landed on her desk at him. "Don't start drooling on the job."

"If you had known her, you would understand," Rhys missed the smile that spread across Jane's lips. "Either way, I saw out of the corner of my eye, Cath and the boy were going off to the swing set. Amie and I just decided to stay there and just be the lovers that we were. There were a bunch of kids running around and screaming, so I didn't notice for a few moments that Cath was screaming.

"So, I ran over to see her on the ground, holding her arm. Just let me say, that girl could take a punch, and she sure as hell could throw one. Even though she had a broken arm, she didn't stop.

"I don't think he pushed anyone off the swings again," Rhys broke into his warm, booming laughter, and Jane couldn't help but smile. After a few minutes, Jane returned to reviewing the files, and Rhys picked the stress ball back up off of the floor.

Later that night, they left with a plan of what to do the next day, but Jane had plans for that night. Her parents had asked her to come over for dinner, and Jane was much obliged to do so.