Dark Blue

I didn’t want to move. Every muscle in my body was aching, protesting even the slightest of movements. I had gotten home late, around 4 in the morning – which meant it was probably well into the afternoon now. I rolled over and blindly felt around for my cell phone, managing to produce it from the night stand after unhooking the charger. I pressed the center home button and squinted at the burst of light that illuminated my room – black out curtains had been my best investment since joining the police department.

There were a couple phone calls that I promptly ignored and went straight to my messages, sifting through them quickly. I tossed my cell back into the comforter and leapt up, heading straight for the bathroom for a steamy shower.

An hour and a half later, I was dressed and… decently presentable, donning a pair of straight boot cut dark jeans and a long sleeve white shirt that said “dance all night, sleep all day” in dark black letters down the front. Light blue vans and a blue scarf topped off my ensemble. I ran a hand through my short hair and perched on the edge of my bed, plucking out my phone from the depths. I had two waiting texts – one from Jonathan, and one from Nik that opened first simply reminding me of the Penguins game I’d promised to attend this weekend. Jonathans text was more imminent, reminding me we were supposed to hang out today. I checked the time, 5:27, and hastily typed out a response.

sorry, Jon, I’ve been asleep all day and just now finished getting ready and read your text. If you still are free and want to do something, that’s fine.

Only a few moments after the message was sent, it was marked as read and a bubble popped up to indicate he was typing.

---

“Evening,” Jonathan murmured in greeting as he flashed me a small smile.

“Evening,” I replied softly before he turned to the hostess, offering his last name like everyone in Chicago didn’t already know who he was.

She smiled politely and nodded, “Right this way, Mr. Toews.”

Jonathan glanced at me and held his hand out in front of him. “After you, m’lady.”

I made a point to roll my eyes over dramatically, pulling a deep chuckle from him, but I followed after the woman. She brought us two waters and quickly disappeared, promising a waitress would shortly take our order.

“So,” drawled Jonathan, peaking over the top of his menu at me. “What’s good here?”

“Every motherfucking thing on the entire damn menu,” I huffed, narrowing my eyes as I skimmed through the specials. After a moment of silence, I looked back up at Jonathan to find he was still watching me expectantly. “Nik really likes the Italian Meat Lover pizza, and the Buffalo Chicken Sandwich – if that helps you any.”

“What do you like?”

“Again,” I laughed. “Everything. But my favorite is probably their house special, the Candlelite White Pizza.”

“Cool, wanna just get a big one of those then?” he asked, folding his menu and placing it on the edge of the table. I arched an eyebrow at him skeptically.

“You don’t even know what comes on that pizza, Jonny.”

He shrugged indifferently as our waitress sidled up and grinned, “I trust your judgment.”

“Hey guys, my name is Chandra and I’ll be taking care of you guys tonight! Do you wanna try an appetizer, or are you ready to order?”

Jonathan waved his hand towards me, “whatever pizza she says, in a large, please. All one ticket.”

I sent him a glare as I handed her the menus. “Uh, just one of the house White Pizzas – but with no caramelized onions, please?”

“Of course! Anything else?”

“I’ll take a Guinness on tap, if you don’t mind?” Jonathan asked, and she nodded with a glance to me.

“Uh, Blue Moon, please?”

She grinned at us and scampered off towards the kitchen.

“So,” Jonathan began, folding his arms on the table after our beers were brought to us, and leaned closer.

“So?”

“Tell me about yourself,” he said with a soft smile. “I don’t really know much other than you jump out of planes, wear a bullet proof vest 40 hours a week, and a different jersey to every home game.”

“There’s not much else to know,” I chuckled, trailing my fingers through the condensation on my glass. “That kind of covers all the basics.”

Jonathan gave me a doubtful look and remained silent, watching me with keen interest. I blew out a puff of air and sat back into my seat, meeting Jonathans eyes. “Okay, fine. Let’s see… I’m trying to finish my degree online. I love traveling – I’ve been to all fifty states, and my new goal is to skydive in all fifty. The number one city I want to visit is Dubai, and I’m in love with Lamborghini’s. I’d sell my soul for one. I’m adopted. I played soccer for school a couple years, and I can play football pretty well. I want to get my pilots license. Anything else?”

Jonathan was smiling broadly at me, a true and dazzling smile I had never seen on any kind of media or billboard.

“Yeah, actually,” he teased, and I playfully groaned. “What is your degree in?”

“Law enforcement, what else?” I shrugged. “I told you: highly ordinary. I’ve got maybe five years of French under my belt and a trip to Paris, but I’m not very fluent in French anymore.”

“How many states have you skydived in?”

I paused a moment, biting my lip as I counted them all up in my head. “Thirty one. I’m going to jump in Pennsylvania this weekend.”

“Are you coming to the game?” he asked, eyes lighting up like a Christmas tree.

I threw him a skeptical look. “Of course, Jonny. I’m wounded you even had to ask.”

“Alright, alright. Important question, then…”

“Do continue.”

“Whose jersey?” he asked in a low voice, like it was some kind of big secret. “I haven’t seen you wear a number nineteen in… ever?”

“I don’t know… I was thinking maybe 88…” I mused teasingly, and began laughing at his deflated expression. “If you want me to wear your number, I will.”

“Great! We’ll pick it up at my place, then I get to drive you home tonight.”

I rolled my eyes with a grin, shaking my head at him as the server arrived with our food.

“What? It keeps me from worrying about your safety that way.”

---

“Jonny, your place is incredible,” I called out to him as I wandered through the different rooms, coming to a stop in front of his different trophies and medals. My eyes widened as I took them all in – I had known Jonathan was one of the best; anyone who watched him play would be a fool to be unaware of that, but I had no idea he was so prominent in the NHL.

“There you are,” he laughed, coming up behind me. “Whatcha lookin at?”

“You’re incredible,” I breathed, my fingertips brushing across his Frank J. Selke Trophy and then to the framed picture of the entire Blackhawks team, with Jonathan holding up the Stanley Cup.

“Nah, I just do my job,” he shrugged. “I love hockey and I want to be the best.”

“You’re pretty phenomenal to watch, I’m not going to lie,” I laughed, turning to face him.

“I just hope I can make the Canadian Olympic team,” he sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I’m not sure if I will.”

“Why wouldn’t you? You already have one gold medal, and you’ve won the Cup fucking twice since you took over as captain.”

He smiled gently at me and glanced down at the jersey in his hands. “Here… This is my first Blackhawks jersey as Captain. I want you to have it.”

“Jonathan – “

“Don’t argue,” he laughed, throwing it over his shoulder. “It’s yours, now.”

“Alright, Casanova. If you say so - but, I really need to get going. My shift starts early in the morning.”

“Okay, let’s head on down to the garage then,” he said softly, leading me back through his condo and flipping off lights as we exited different rooms. We took the elevator down to the garage, and I followed him to a sleek black Maserati GranTurismo. He opened the passenger door for me, and handed me the folded jersey before closing the door and hurrying round to his side.

The drive was filled with mindless chatter, mostly about how hard it was for Jonathan to make a decision between a couple different cars before finally settling on this one. Once at my apartment, Jonathan gave me the ‘stay’ look, before he moved around the car to open my door.

“Jon, really,” I laughed, accepting his waiting hand to pull me out of the low vehicle. “I can open doors and such. It’s not a big deal.”

He tugged me back towards him when I turned towards the building, not letting up till I was directly in front of him – hand still clasped in his.

“I know you can,” he told me softly, eyes skimming across my face. “But it’s a respect thing, you know? I know we’re just friends, but…”

He trailed off for a moment and broke eye contact, looking somewhere past me.

“But, what?”

“But… I think you’re not used to being treated as perfectly as you should. I really respect you, Dev, and you’re wonderful. I think you’re used to being more like one of the guys than the woman you are,” he finally said. “I just, I don’t want you to end up with some guy whose all wrong for you, ya know?”

I narrowed my eyes in confusion, almost feeling like I’d been slapped across the face, but nodded anyways. “Yeah… yeah, alright.”

“Dev –“

“No, really, I’ve got you. That’s, uh, that’s really sweet of you, Jonathan,” I said slowly, taking a couple steps back. He gave me a small smile before dropping my hand and pocketing his keys.

“I’ll walk you up.”

“No,” I said, a little too quickly, and recovered with a smile. “Really, go on home. I’m sure you have practice early in the morning, and it’s just, it’s ten feet. I’ll be fine. I have a gun on me, anyway.”

His eyes blew wide for a moment at the word gun, and I swiftly calmed him with the simple word, “cop..”

He gave me a small smile and nodded, stepping back to his car. “Goodnight, Dev.”

“Night, Jonathan,” and with that, I quickly jogged up the stairs where the door man gave me a warm smile as I hurried through to the elevator.