Fake Fan Fiction ❯ Misery ❯ Helping Out ( Chapter 8 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Kita and Subu-chan 
Anime/Manga: Fake Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Comedy / Action / Drama / Romance / Police | Type: Shounen-ai | Uploaded On: 01.14.2007 | Pages: 4 | Words: 4.6K | Visits: 443 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Fake Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Comedy / Action / Drama / Romance / Police | Type: Shounen-ai | Uploaded On: 01.14.2007 | Pages: 4 | Words: 4.6K | Visits: 443 | Status: Work In Progress
Chapter Eight-Helping Out
Drake could hear the soft murmur of JJ’s voice on the other side of the door. He glanced down at his watch and started. How had it gotten that late? He dug out his cell phone and winced as he remembered the hospital injunction against using cell phones around some of the more delicate equipment. JJ and Dee (And he, himself, he thought guiltily) might have forgotten in the heat of the moment, but with a nurse glaring at him from the nurse’s station, he wasn’t likely to this time. He only hoped Ted would forgive him.
After a few long, uncomfortable minutes of being stared at by the nurse, Drake decided enough was enough. He opened the door and stuck his head in. “JJ, you ready to go now?”
There was no response from the dimly-lit room.
“JJ?”
Drake caught the flutter of movement from the bed and turned on the overhead. Ryo blinked owlishly at him and waved weakly at the wheelchair. “Fell asleep.” The wounded detective mouthed with a wry half-smile.
Drake glanced down at his partner and had to smile. JJ’s tousled head rested on the edge of Ryo’s hospital bed and his fingertips still rested lightly on the back of Ryo’s hand. “You goofball.” Drake muttered softly.
Drake met Ryo’s amused gaze with a shrug, saying without words, ‘what can you do?” “How are you feeling, Ryo?”
Ryo shrugged painfully. “I hurt. Feels like a truck parked on my chest.” He managed in a strained whisper. “Why the chair?”
“Chair?” Ryo slipped his hand from beneath JJ’s to point at the wheelchair JJ sat in. “Oh. After you got hurt, JJ took a bad fall. Cracked his shoulder on the corner of his desk.” Drake shrugged, keeping it short. “We just came up from the ER to see how you were doing.”
Ryo nodded understanding and winced.
Drake saw the wince and interpreted it correctly. “You should be resting. Let me call the nurse and I’ll take goofy here back home to sleep off the painkillers.”
Ryo nodded again and mouthed, “Thank you.”
Drake didn’t bother with the call button, taking a bit of perverse delight in walking to the nurse’s station and informing the same nurse who had glared at him that the patient in seventeen-thirty was awake and in need of her. He followed her back to the room, noting absently that she had a nice ass but a lousy attitude. He bade goodbye to the groggy Ryo, promising to come and see him again and leaned JJ back in the wheelchair.
Leaving Ryo to the nurse’s tender mercies, he wheeled his sleeping partner down the hall to the elevator. JJ roused briefly as they got on the elevator, but settled his head against the handlebar and Drake’s hand and dropped right back off. Drake chuckled softly as he mashed the button for the lobby. JJ always amazed him by his ability to sleep anywhere and in any position. When they reached the ground floor, Drake shook JJ’s shoulder gently.
“Hey. JJ? JJ, can you stay awake long enough for me to go get the car?”
JJ roused blearily and nodded. “M’okay. Go home now?”
Drake smiled at him. “I need to stop at the pharmacy and get your prescriptions, but then home. Okay?”
“Kay.” JJ yawned and struggled to hold his head up.
Drake chuckled and nodded at the nurse behind the desk. She tapped her glasses and tipped her head toward JJ with a grin, indicating she’d keep an eye on him. Drake smiled his thanks and hurried out to get his car. He pulled out his cell phone and called Ted, prepared for a verbal attack.
“Bout damned time you called.” Ted’s voice was too calm and Drake winced.
“Sorry. It took a while to see the doc and then I took him up to see Ryo. My fault. I forgot that I wasn’t supposed to use a cell phone in the hospital. Sorry, man.”
Ted yawned. “Where you at?”
Drake shifted his phone to the other ear so he could unlock his door. “At my car in the parking lot. I have to get JJ’s meds and take him home yet. I’ll be there soon as I can.”
“Forget it.” That wasn’t Ted’s voice and Drake nearly dropped his phone in surprise.
“Chief Smith?”
“Yes, Parker. The man who is allegedly supposed to be your direct supervisor. Did it occur to you to call and let me know you were taking your partner to the ER?”
“Nossir. Sorry, Chief.”
“Yes, you are, but lets put those shortcomings aside for the moment. I can afford to let you baby-sit him for today, but you damned well better be in here bright and early tomorrow. You get me?”
“Yeah. I understand. Listen, the doc said JJ’s gonna be off today and tomorrow and then he needs to be on light duty for at least two weeks.” Drake winced as he started the car, waiting for the inevitable explosion.
Smith sighed and grumbled but only reminded him to bring in the paperwork when he came in tomorrow. Cutting Drake’s reply short, he handed the phone back to Ted.
“Ted, who was that and what the hell did he do with the badger?” Drake pulled the car up to the doors and got out.
“Damned if I know.” Ted sounded awed. “It was like he cared.”
Then at the same time, as if they’d planned it, they both said, “Nah.” Drake laughed.
Ted groused at him for a few more seconds and then informed him that he was going home and he was turning his cell phone off and the rest of the world could kiss his ass until his shift started tomorrow.
Drake chuckled softly. “Thanks for covering for me this morning, even if the badger did find out. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Ted yawned loudly. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll tell you something, man. You need to get off babysitting duty once in a while. Find a nice piece of ass and get yourself laid. You’re starting to get on my nerves.”
Bemused, Drake asked, “How?”
“Cause I haven’t seen you this wrapped up in anything or anyone since you got dumped by that cute little trick, Linda.” Ted told him, a scowl audible in his voice. “I swear, man, way you look after spazzo boy, it’s like he’s your girlfriend.”
Drake snorted surprised laughter. “And you need sleep. You’re imagining things.”
Ted barked a harsh laugh. “Hah! Tell that to the girl you ditched to play nursemaid that day Dee laid into JJ. Pull the other leg, Drake.” He hung up, leaving Drake to stare uncertainly at the phone.
Drake shook his head to clear it of the uncomfortable thoughts and went in. The nurse had moved JJ over by the desk and he was leaning on the polished wood, snoozing. She grinned at Drake and put a finger against her lips. “He tried,” She confided quietly. “He really tried to stay awake, but the second time he nearly fell out of the chair, I moved him over here and he was gone to dreamland.”
Drake chuckled with her. “I should have figured as much.” He told her. “He said he didn’t get much sleep with his shoulder hurting him and then the doctor gave him some painkillers. Once he was through acting like he was high, he passed out.”
She laughed. “Ooh, he must be fun at parties.”
“Wouldn’t know.” Drake shrugged as he deftly leaned JJ back in the wheelchair, all without waking him. “I haven’t seen him at one.”
He nodded goodbye to her and wheeled his somnolent partner out to his car. “JJ? C’mon, bud. Time to wake up a little. I need you to help me. Time to get in the car.”
JJ roused and sleepily cooperated with Drake’s efforts to get him in the passenger seat. Drake buckled him in before taking the wheelchair back inside. He nearly bumped into the teenager from earlier as he was turning to go. He reached out to steady her on her crutches. “Sorry.”
She grinned back. “S’Okay. How’s your friend?”
Drake smiled. “He’s passed out in the car from painkillers. He’ll be okay.”
“Cool. You want to finish the book? I’ll give it to you.”
Drake had forgotten about the book entirely. “Oh. That’s okay. Thanks for letting me borrow it for a while.”
“No big. You take good care of your friend, Kay?” Laughing, she hopped away.
Drake shook his head and returned to the car, where JJ was still out of it. Sighing, he climbed behind the wheel and tousled his partner’s hair. “Goofball. Let’s go.”
Drake stopped at a pharmacy for JJ’s prescriptions, snitching his insurance card from the sleeping man’s breast pocket. He drove back to JJ’s apartment through the beginnings of the lunch hour rush, trying very hard not to think. He didn’t like the thoughts that Ted and that teenager had started. JJ was not his girlfriend! Damn them both!
Drake sighed as he pulled into a parking space not for from JJ’s building. Maybe Ted was right. Maybe he really needed to get laid. His sex life had been kind of nonexistent since he and Brandy had called it quits.
Drake reached over and shook JJ’s good shoulder gently, hoping that he wasn’t hurting the bad one. “JJ. C’mon, time to wake up now. We’re at your place.”
JJ stirred and blinked sleepily at him. “Hmm?”
“Time to get up. We’re here.” Drake unbuckled the seatbelt and let it slide across JJ’s chest. JJ blinked and yawned, moving in slow-motion.
Drake shook his head and got out of the car, coming around to help the dazed JJ out of the car. JJ moved slowly and unsteadily and Drake had to support him. Whatever the doctor had given him was kicking his butt.
“Drake-sempai?”
“Yeah?”
“How come you’re being so nice to me?” JJ asked earnestly, his face a little too close for Drake’s comfort.
Drake shook off the thought and leaned away a little, but that upset JJ’s already precarious balance and Drake had close that small distance again to steady him. “You’re my friend and my partner. Why wouldn’t I be nice to you?”
“Hmm.” JJ leaned against him. Drake helped him up the stairs and into the elevator that the rent-a-cop (not the same old man as before, he noted absently) held open for them. Drake pushed the button for JJ’s floor and leaned against the mirrored wall with a sigh. JJ leaned against him.
Drake stiffened when JJ buried his nose in Drake’s cotton shirt with a contented sigh. “Mmm-you smell nice, Drake-sempai…”
Drake pushed JJ’s head away. “It’s called soap, idiot. Man, I don’t know what he gave you, but you’re even more of a space cadet than normal.” He knew he was being harsher than he had to be, but this was making him seriously uncomfortable.
“M’not a space cadet. I’m a cop-op.” JJ made an odd sound that Drake recognized as laughter. “An’ you’re my partner. Big tough teddy bear of a partner.”
Drake groaned. “I am not a teddy bear!”
JJ giggled. For god’s sake, Drake thought in disbelief, he giggled like a teenage girl. What kind of man giggled like that? JJ leaned closer. “You’re a cuddly-wuddly teddy bear, Drakey-sempai! A big ol’ teddy bear.”
Drake had never been so glad of the elevator doors opening. It took him a few seconds to realize this was not JJ’s floor and the older woman with the Pekinese was staring at them. Drake closed his eyes and wished for the elevator shaft to open up under him and drop him back to the first floor. He had never been so mortified in all his life.
“Oh, my, Jemmy, are you all right?”
That wasn’t the reaction he had been expecting. Drake opened his eyes to find the woman leaning in to study JJ’s face. The dog in her arms squirmed, trying to lick JJ and yapping with excitement.
“Jemmy, dear? Are you okay?”
JJ looked up and a wide smile wreathed his features. “Hiya, Auntie. Hey, Spooks.”
“Hello, dear. Are you all right? You look awful.”
JJ nodded drunkenly. “I fell down,” He explained with all the solemn seriousness of a four-year-old. “I had t’go an’ see the doctor.”
The woman looked up at Drake, all business. “Hello. I’m Cecile Adams-Mere. You are?”
“Drake Parker, ma’am.” Drake said politely. “I’m JJ’s-”
“Big cuddly teddy bear of a partner.” JJ added with another giggle, causing Drake to groan and go red.
“Oh, dear. They gave him something for the pain on an empty stomach, didn’t they?” The woman caught JJ’s chin and forced him to meet her eyes. JJ grinned at her and rested his head on Drake’s shoulder when she released him.
Drake shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know. I know that JJ said he didn’t get much sleep last night cause his shoulder was hurting, but I don’t know if he had anything to eat.”
She stepped all the way in the elevator, allowing the doors to close behind her. “Probably not. If I know my nephew, he doesn’t eat when he’s in pain. We need to get him into bed, Mr. Parker.”
Drake shifted to support more of JJ’s weight as the smaller man sagged against him. “I was trying to.”
When the elevator stopped, the woman slung her arm around JJ’s waist and helped support him, much to Drake’s astonishment. The dog bounded around their feet as they manhandled JJ to the door of his apartment. Drake had the keys (snagged from JJ at the same time as he had gotten his insurance card) and unlocked the door.
Cecile helped him haul JJ into the bedroom and then shooed him to the kitchen to find something for JJ to eat and drink so he could take some of his medication. When Drake returned with some hastily heated soup and a glass of ice water, she had gotten JJ into pajamas and tucked into bed. He was propped up against a backrest of pillows and blinked dazedly at Drake.
Cecile took the bowl from him and nodded approvingly before plunking the bowl in JJ’s hands. “Now, eat, silly, or I’ll tell your mother you can’t manage without her.”
JJ flushed at the threat and began to eat. Cecile took the bag of medication from Drake and read the labels. She shook two of the pills into her hand and made JJ take them. Halfway through the soup, JJ’s head nodded and Cecile rescued the bowl before it spilled, handing it off to Drake, who was feeling remarkably out-of-place. She neatly resettled JJ and shooed Drake out of the bedroom as JJ’s breathing deepened into soft snores.
“Would you like some coffee, Mr. Parker?”
Drake debated on whether to run for his life now or after he had put some caffeine in his sorely neglected system. Caffeine won. “Thank you.”
Cecile was very at home in JJ’s neat kitchen, deftly setting the coffeemaker to brew and digging out a pair of mugs and sugar. Drake hunted the refrigerator for the cream he had seen there earlier. JJ was the only one he knew who used real cream. He pulled it out and was rewarded with a smile from JJ’s aunt. She poured them both a cup of coffee before sitting at the little table. Drake accepted the coffee in its ‘I (heart) LA’ mug and sat across from her, wondering all the while why he was doing this.
“So you’re Jemmy’s partner, Mr. Parker?” Cecile asked, bending to scratch the ears of the little dog.
Looking up from pouring cream into his coffee, Drake nodded. “Yeah. We’ve worked together at the 27th for six years and change now. And it’s Drake, please. My dad’s Mr. Parker.”
Her blue eyes twinkled with laughter as she took a sip from her own mug. “Drake then. You have a remarkable amount of patience to put up with my nephew for that long. I love him dearly, but sometimes I can’t spend an hour in his presence without wanting to nail his feet to the floor and force-feed him some Prozac.”
Drake laughed aloud. “I can understand that. He drives me and half the other guys to distraction sometimes.”
“Only sometimes?”
“Anytime he’s awake.” Drake chuckled lightly.
That got a hearty laugh out of the older woman. “I like your attitude, Mr. Par-I’m sorry, Drake. Jemmy has been like this since he was a child. He’s a wonderful boy (man now, I suppose, but I’ll never be able to think of him as anything other than the child he was) but I’ll never understand how two such ‘normal’ people as my younger brother and his wife managed to produce a child like him.” She sipped her coffee. “Poor Jemmy. I think his parents confuse him sometimes as much as he does them. He loves them though.”
Drake shrugged, unsure what to say. He had learned more about JJ’s past in the past twenty minutes than he had in the last six years. Cecile laughed at his expression. “Don’t mind me, dearheart, I tend to ramble about my family. I’m the oldest of five children and something of a busybody. I involve myself whether they want me or not.”
She grinned in a way that took years off her face. Her resemblance to JJ hit Drake like a ton of bricks. Smiling like that, she was like an older, feminine version of his partner. Drake shuddered, jolted by that thought. Oh Christ, I so need to get laid. He couldn’t believe what he had just thought. The image of JJ as a woman was burned into his brain and wouldn’t let go.
Cecile chuckled and drew his attention back to her. “My brother is rather set in his ways and the woman he married is no less so, though she does remind me of Jemmy a bit. They both have the attention span of a fly, unless it’s something that really holds their interest.” She finished her coffee and rose to pour herself another cup. She topped off Drake’s cup without his asking and settled back down in her seat. “I swear, one short phone conversation with her and I’m ready to climb the walls. She says she has a one-track mind, but if you ask me, her train of thought keeps derailing. Jemmy takes after her in that respect, I suppose, if no other.”
Drake shrugged noncommittally. He was trying to think of a way to politely extricate himself from this conversation when the tone of Cecile’s voice changed. “I’ve heard a lot about you, too, you know. Every conversation I had with Jemmy, used to be Dee this, Dee-sempai that. Now he talks about you a lot. ‘Drake-sempai got mad at Dee-sempai today. He yelled at him loud enough to be heard in our office’ or ‘Drake-sempai bought me lunch today. It was so funny, him trying not to wince at the jalapenos I had on my sandwich.’ I think he trusts you.” Cecile regarded him evenly. “That’s saying something. Jemmy doesn’t trust many people anymore. He was hurt badly by someone he trusted once and then again when that Max Fork fellow suckered him and hurt you trying to steal that cocaine. I remember how upset that made him. For a while there, he just cut himself off. Tried not to care. You actually helped there. He said you wouldn’t let him alone. Eventually, he had to stop sulking just to get you to stop bothering him.”
Drake chuckled reluctantly. “He was acting like he was going to jump off a bridge. I made sure he didn’t get the opportunity.”
Cecile smiled at him. “And that went a long way toward helping him.”
Drake shrugged, discomfited.
Cecile smiled at him and bent to pick up her dog. “I should go before poor Spooks can’t hold it anymore. Are you going to keep an eye on Jemmy?”
Fixed in her blue gaze, Drake found himself nodding. There was something about Cecile that made it impossible to say no. Come to think of it, it was the same with JJ.
Satisfied, Cecile grinned again, looking disconcertingly like JJ, and turned to leave.
Drake was still staring blankly at the kitchen doorway when the sound of JJ’s front door closing snapped him out of it. Drake thumped his forehead with the palm of one hand like it might knock some of the cobwebs loose. That woman was downright scary.
Since he had agreed to watch JJ, Drake sighed and rinsed out the two mugs and the coffeepot. He had a feeling he didn’t need any more coffee today. He puttered around the kitchen, putting things away and looking helplessly for a reason to be here. Finally, he decided that he should see if he could find something to fix for dinner. He might as well make himself useful.
Drake rooted around in JJ’s (way-too-neat) cabinets and freezer before deciding on a chicken pasta he and his little sister had created one night after a particularly disastrous pair of dates (one his, that he did not care to remember, and one hers, which she had vowed to forget if it killed her) had sent them seeking solace in a pitcher of Sangria and late-night cable movies. After two glasses apiece, they had decided it was time for something to eat. After much giggling and lunacy, they had managed to make something not only edible, but good.
“Contrary to popular belief,” Sally had teased. “Single cops can cook!”
That had earned her an ice cube in her bra. Drake chuckled at the memory as he set the chicken out to thaw and made the marinade. He covered the bowl and stuck it in the fridge until the chicken thawed. He sighed and wandered into the living room and turned on the TV, keeping the volume low, so he wouldn’t wake JJ. After twenty minutes of nothing but talk shows and soaps he turned the TV back off with a disgusted grunt. He had forgotten how much he hated daytime TV.
Not for the first time, he wondered why the hell he was still here. JJ was a big boy and could take care of himself. For the most part, his traitorous mind whispered softly. Drake grunted and shook his head. He was lying to himself, insisting to himself that it was because of Cecile that he was still here, looking after JJ.
He was here because he wanted to be. Drake slumped. It was unavoidable. He had to admit it. He liked looking after JJ. JJ made him laugh, and kept him from taking himself too seriously. And it was weird, but he cared that JJ came to him first and depended on him like he did. More and more often, Drake was the one who managed to cheer JJ whenever Dee went off on him.
Drake shook his head again, trying hard to get his mind to shut the hell up. For god’s sake, it was making him sound like he was in-
“Drake-sempai?”
Drake jumped a foot and whirled, his heart pounding in his throat. JJ stood in the doorway, blue shadows under his eyes. He leaned heavily on the doorframe, and stared at Drake like he wasn’t sure whether or not he was seeing things. “JJ! You should be in bed.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Keeping an eye on you. Your aunt Cecile’s orders.”
A wan smile flitted across JJ’s features. “She worries too much.”
Drake rose. “She cares. And to tell the truth, you really should be lying down. Look at you. You can barely stand up straight.”
JJ chuckled softly, holding onto the doorframe. “You could be right. But I can’t sleep. My mind keeps going in little circles, no matter how much I want to fall asleep.”
Drake chuckled with him. “I can understand that. C’mon. Lets get you back into bed and then I’ll bore you until you can’t stay awake.”
That got a real laugh out of JJ, and there was a sparkle of humor in his blue eyes. “You’re not that boring, Drake-sempai.”
Drake laughed, taking JJ by the shoulders and turning him back toward the bedroom. “Watch me. I can make Ben Stein seem like the liveliest person on the planet.”
JJ laughed and let Drake steer him back down the hall, supporting some of his weight without a word of complaint.
Drake tucked JJ back into bed and sat casually on the edge of the bed, one foot tucked under him. JJ watched him with eyes that were slowly clearing of the drug haze. Drake chuckled softly. “Want me to read you the phone book? A guaranteed cure for insomnia.”
JJ laughed and settled himself more comfortably. He discovered he loved the warm, affectionate sound of Drake’s voice. He thought the phone book didn’t sound like such a bad idea, if it meant he got to listen to Drake talk. “Nah. Just talk to me. About anything. I don’t care what.”
Drake laughed. “You got it.”
Drake could hear the soft murmur of JJ’s voice on the other side of the door. He glanced down at his watch and started. How had it gotten that late? He dug out his cell phone and winced as he remembered the hospital injunction against using cell phones around some of the more delicate equipment. JJ and Dee (And he, himself, he thought guiltily) might have forgotten in the heat of the moment, but with a nurse glaring at him from the nurse’s station, he wasn’t likely to this time. He only hoped Ted would forgive him.
After a few long, uncomfortable minutes of being stared at by the nurse, Drake decided enough was enough. He opened the door and stuck his head in. “JJ, you ready to go now?”
There was no response from the dimly-lit room.
“JJ?”
Drake caught the flutter of movement from the bed and turned on the overhead. Ryo blinked owlishly at him and waved weakly at the wheelchair. “Fell asleep.” The wounded detective mouthed with a wry half-smile.
Drake glanced down at his partner and had to smile. JJ’s tousled head rested on the edge of Ryo’s hospital bed and his fingertips still rested lightly on the back of Ryo’s hand. “You goofball.” Drake muttered softly.
Drake met Ryo’s amused gaze with a shrug, saying without words, ‘what can you do?” “How are you feeling, Ryo?”
Ryo shrugged painfully. “I hurt. Feels like a truck parked on my chest.” He managed in a strained whisper. “Why the chair?”
“Chair?” Ryo slipped his hand from beneath JJ’s to point at the wheelchair JJ sat in. “Oh. After you got hurt, JJ took a bad fall. Cracked his shoulder on the corner of his desk.” Drake shrugged, keeping it short. “We just came up from the ER to see how you were doing.”
Ryo nodded understanding and winced.
Drake saw the wince and interpreted it correctly. “You should be resting. Let me call the nurse and I’ll take goofy here back home to sleep off the painkillers.”
Ryo nodded again and mouthed, “Thank you.”
Drake didn’t bother with the call button, taking a bit of perverse delight in walking to the nurse’s station and informing the same nurse who had glared at him that the patient in seventeen-thirty was awake and in need of her. He followed her back to the room, noting absently that she had a nice ass but a lousy attitude. He bade goodbye to the groggy Ryo, promising to come and see him again and leaned JJ back in the wheelchair.
Leaving Ryo to the nurse’s tender mercies, he wheeled his sleeping partner down the hall to the elevator. JJ roused briefly as they got on the elevator, but settled his head against the handlebar and Drake’s hand and dropped right back off. Drake chuckled softly as he mashed the button for the lobby. JJ always amazed him by his ability to sleep anywhere and in any position. When they reached the ground floor, Drake shook JJ’s shoulder gently.
“Hey. JJ? JJ, can you stay awake long enough for me to go get the car?”
JJ roused blearily and nodded. “M’okay. Go home now?”
Drake smiled at him. “I need to stop at the pharmacy and get your prescriptions, but then home. Okay?”
“Kay.” JJ yawned and struggled to hold his head up.
Drake chuckled and nodded at the nurse behind the desk. She tapped her glasses and tipped her head toward JJ with a grin, indicating she’d keep an eye on him. Drake smiled his thanks and hurried out to get his car. He pulled out his cell phone and called Ted, prepared for a verbal attack.
“Bout damned time you called.” Ted’s voice was too calm and Drake winced.
“Sorry. It took a while to see the doc and then I took him up to see Ryo. My fault. I forgot that I wasn’t supposed to use a cell phone in the hospital. Sorry, man.”
Ted yawned. “Where you at?”
Drake shifted his phone to the other ear so he could unlock his door. “At my car in the parking lot. I have to get JJ’s meds and take him home yet. I’ll be there soon as I can.”
“Forget it.” That wasn’t Ted’s voice and Drake nearly dropped his phone in surprise.
“Chief Smith?”
“Yes, Parker. The man who is allegedly supposed to be your direct supervisor. Did it occur to you to call and let me know you were taking your partner to the ER?”
“Nossir. Sorry, Chief.”
“Yes, you are, but lets put those shortcomings aside for the moment. I can afford to let you baby-sit him for today, but you damned well better be in here bright and early tomorrow. You get me?”
“Yeah. I understand. Listen, the doc said JJ’s gonna be off today and tomorrow and then he needs to be on light duty for at least two weeks.” Drake winced as he started the car, waiting for the inevitable explosion.
Smith sighed and grumbled but only reminded him to bring in the paperwork when he came in tomorrow. Cutting Drake’s reply short, he handed the phone back to Ted.
“Ted, who was that and what the hell did he do with the badger?” Drake pulled the car up to the doors and got out.
“Damned if I know.” Ted sounded awed. “It was like he cared.”
Then at the same time, as if they’d planned it, they both said, “Nah.” Drake laughed.
Ted groused at him for a few more seconds and then informed him that he was going home and he was turning his cell phone off and the rest of the world could kiss his ass until his shift started tomorrow.
Drake chuckled softly. “Thanks for covering for me this morning, even if the badger did find out. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Ted yawned loudly. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll tell you something, man. You need to get off babysitting duty once in a while. Find a nice piece of ass and get yourself laid. You’re starting to get on my nerves.”
Bemused, Drake asked, “How?”
“Cause I haven’t seen you this wrapped up in anything or anyone since you got dumped by that cute little trick, Linda.” Ted told him, a scowl audible in his voice. “I swear, man, way you look after spazzo boy, it’s like he’s your girlfriend.”
Drake snorted surprised laughter. “And you need sleep. You’re imagining things.”
Ted barked a harsh laugh. “Hah! Tell that to the girl you ditched to play nursemaid that day Dee laid into JJ. Pull the other leg, Drake.” He hung up, leaving Drake to stare uncertainly at the phone.
Drake shook his head to clear it of the uncomfortable thoughts and went in. The nurse had moved JJ over by the desk and he was leaning on the polished wood, snoozing. She grinned at Drake and put a finger against her lips. “He tried,” She confided quietly. “He really tried to stay awake, but the second time he nearly fell out of the chair, I moved him over here and he was gone to dreamland.”
Drake chuckled with her. “I should have figured as much.” He told her. “He said he didn’t get much sleep with his shoulder hurting him and then the doctor gave him some painkillers. Once he was through acting like he was high, he passed out.”
She laughed. “Ooh, he must be fun at parties.”
“Wouldn’t know.” Drake shrugged as he deftly leaned JJ back in the wheelchair, all without waking him. “I haven’t seen him at one.”
He nodded goodbye to her and wheeled his somnolent partner out to his car. “JJ? C’mon, bud. Time to wake up a little. I need you to help me. Time to get in the car.”
JJ roused and sleepily cooperated with Drake’s efforts to get him in the passenger seat. Drake buckled him in before taking the wheelchair back inside. He nearly bumped into the teenager from earlier as he was turning to go. He reached out to steady her on her crutches. “Sorry.”
She grinned back. “S’Okay. How’s your friend?”
Drake smiled. “He’s passed out in the car from painkillers. He’ll be okay.”
“Cool. You want to finish the book? I’ll give it to you.”
Drake had forgotten about the book entirely. “Oh. That’s okay. Thanks for letting me borrow it for a while.”
“No big. You take good care of your friend, Kay?” Laughing, she hopped away.
Drake shook his head and returned to the car, where JJ was still out of it. Sighing, he climbed behind the wheel and tousled his partner’s hair. “Goofball. Let’s go.”
Drake stopped at a pharmacy for JJ’s prescriptions, snitching his insurance card from the sleeping man’s breast pocket. He drove back to JJ’s apartment through the beginnings of the lunch hour rush, trying very hard not to think. He didn’t like the thoughts that Ted and that teenager had started. JJ was not his girlfriend! Damn them both!
Drake sighed as he pulled into a parking space not for from JJ’s building. Maybe Ted was right. Maybe he really needed to get laid. His sex life had been kind of nonexistent since he and Brandy had called it quits.
Drake reached over and shook JJ’s good shoulder gently, hoping that he wasn’t hurting the bad one. “JJ. C’mon, time to wake up now. We’re at your place.”
JJ stirred and blinked sleepily at him. “Hmm?”
“Time to get up. We’re here.” Drake unbuckled the seatbelt and let it slide across JJ’s chest. JJ blinked and yawned, moving in slow-motion.
Drake shook his head and got out of the car, coming around to help the dazed JJ out of the car. JJ moved slowly and unsteadily and Drake had to support him. Whatever the doctor had given him was kicking his butt.
“Drake-sempai?”
“Yeah?”
“How come you’re being so nice to me?” JJ asked earnestly, his face a little too close for Drake’s comfort.
Drake shook off the thought and leaned away a little, but that upset JJ’s already precarious balance and Drake had close that small distance again to steady him. “You’re my friend and my partner. Why wouldn’t I be nice to you?”
“Hmm.” JJ leaned against him. Drake helped him up the stairs and into the elevator that the rent-a-cop (not the same old man as before, he noted absently) held open for them. Drake pushed the button for JJ’s floor and leaned against the mirrored wall with a sigh. JJ leaned against him.
Drake stiffened when JJ buried his nose in Drake’s cotton shirt with a contented sigh. “Mmm-you smell nice, Drake-sempai…”
Drake pushed JJ’s head away. “It’s called soap, idiot. Man, I don’t know what he gave you, but you’re even more of a space cadet than normal.” He knew he was being harsher than he had to be, but this was making him seriously uncomfortable.
“M’not a space cadet. I’m a cop-op.” JJ made an odd sound that Drake recognized as laughter. “An’ you’re my partner. Big tough teddy bear of a partner.”
Drake groaned. “I am not a teddy bear!”
JJ giggled. For god’s sake, Drake thought in disbelief, he giggled like a teenage girl. What kind of man giggled like that? JJ leaned closer. “You’re a cuddly-wuddly teddy bear, Drakey-sempai! A big ol’ teddy bear.”
Drake had never been so glad of the elevator doors opening. It took him a few seconds to realize this was not JJ’s floor and the older woman with the Pekinese was staring at them. Drake closed his eyes and wished for the elevator shaft to open up under him and drop him back to the first floor. He had never been so mortified in all his life.
“Oh, my, Jemmy, are you all right?”
That wasn’t the reaction he had been expecting. Drake opened his eyes to find the woman leaning in to study JJ’s face. The dog in her arms squirmed, trying to lick JJ and yapping with excitement.
“Jemmy, dear? Are you okay?”
JJ looked up and a wide smile wreathed his features. “Hiya, Auntie. Hey, Spooks.”
“Hello, dear. Are you all right? You look awful.”
JJ nodded drunkenly. “I fell down,” He explained with all the solemn seriousness of a four-year-old. “I had t’go an’ see the doctor.”
The woman looked up at Drake, all business. “Hello. I’m Cecile Adams-Mere. You are?”
“Drake Parker, ma’am.” Drake said politely. “I’m JJ’s-”
“Big cuddly teddy bear of a partner.” JJ added with another giggle, causing Drake to groan and go red.
“Oh, dear. They gave him something for the pain on an empty stomach, didn’t they?” The woman caught JJ’s chin and forced him to meet her eyes. JJ grinned at her and rested his head on Drake’s shoulder when she released him.
Drake shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know. I know that JJ said he didn’t get much sleep last night cause his shoulder was hurting, but I don’t know if he had anything to eat.”
She stepped all the way in the elevator, allowing the doors to close behind her. “Probably not. If I know my nephew, he doesn’t eat when he’s in pain. We need to get him into bed, Mr. Parker.”
Drake shifted to support more of JJ’s weight as the smaller man sagged against him. “I was trying to.”
When the elevator stopped, the woman slung her arm around JJ’s waist and helped support him, much to Drake’s astonishment. The dog bounded around their feet as they manhandled JJ to the door of his apartment. Drake had the keys (snagged from JJ at the same time as he had gotten his insurance card) and unlocked the door.
Cecile helped him haul JJ into the bedroom and then shooed him to the kitchen to find something for JJ to eat and drink so he could take some of his medication. When Drake returned with some hastily heated soup and a glass of ice water, she had gotten JJ into pajamas and tucked into bed. He was propped up against a backrest of pillows and blinked dazedly at Drake.
Cecile took the bowl from him and nodded approvingly before plunking the bowl in JJ’s hands. “Now, eat, silly, or I’ll tell your mother you can’t manage without her.”
JJ flushed at the threat and began to eat. Cecile took the bag of medication from Drake and read the labels. She shook two of the pills into her hand and made JJ take them. Halfway through the soup, JJ’s head nodded and Cecile rescued the bowl before it spilled, handing it off to Drake, who was feeling remarkably out-of-place. She neatly resettled JJ and shooed Drake out of the bedroom as JJ’s breathing deepened into soft snores.
“Would you like some coffee, Mr. Parker?”
Drake debated on whether to run for his life now or after he had put some caffeine in his sorely neglected system. Caffeine won. “Thank you.”
Cecile was very at home in JJ’s neat kitchen, deftly setting the coffeemaker to brew and digging out a pair of mugs and sugar. Drake hunted the refrigerator for the cream he had seen there earlier. JJ was the only one he knew who used real cream. He pulled it out and was rewarded with a smile from JJ’s aunt. She poured them both a cup of coffee before sitting at the little table. Drake accepted the coffee in its ‘I (heart) LA’ mug and sat across from her, wondering all the while why he was doing this.
“So you’re Jemmy’s partner, Mr. Parker?” Cecile asked, bending to scratch the ears of the little dog.
Looking up from pouring cream into his coffee, Drake nodded. “Yeah. We’ve worked together at the 27th for six years and change now. And it’s Drake, please. My dad’s Mr. Parker.”
Her blue eyes twinkled with laughter as she took a sip from her own mug. “Drake then. You have a remarkable amount of patience to put up with my nephew for that long. I love him dearly, but sometimes I can’t spend an hour in his presence without wanting to nail his feet to the floor and force-feed him some Prozac.”
Drake laughed aloud. “I can understand that. He drives me and half the other guys to distraction sometimes.”
“Only sometimes?”
“Anytime he’s awake.” Drake chuckled lightly.
That got a hearty laugh out of the older woman. “I like your attitude, Mr. Par-I’m sorry, Drake. Jemmy has been like this since he was a child. He’s a wonderful boy (man now, I suppose, but I’ll never be able to think of him as anything other than the child he was) but I’ll never understand how two such ‘normal’ people as my younger brother and his wife managed to produce a child like him.” She sipped her coffee. “Poor Jemmy. I think his parents confuse him sometimes as much as he does them. He loves them though.”
Drake shrugged, unsure what to say. He had learned more about JJ’s past in the past twenty minutes than he had in the last six years. Cecile laughed at his expression. “Don’t mind me, dearheart, I tend to ramble about my family. I’m the oldest of five children and something of a busybody. I involve myself whether they want me or not.”
She grinned in a way that took years off her face. Her resemblance to JJ hit Drake like a ton of bricks. Smiling like that, she was like an older, feminine version of his partner. Drake shuddered, jolted by that thought. Oh Christ, I so need to get laid. He couldn’t believe what he had just thought. The image of JJ as a woman was burned into his brain and wouldn’t let go.
Cecile chuckled and drew his attention back to her. “My brother is rather set in his ways and the woman he married is no less so, though she does remind me of Jemmy a bit. They both have the attention span of a fly, unless it’s something that really holds their interest.” She finished her coffee and rose to pour herself another cup. She topped off Drake’s cup without his asking and settled back down in her seat. “I swear, one short phone conversation with her and I’m ready to climb the walls. She says she has a one-track mind, but if you ask me, her train of thought keeps derailing. Jemmy takes after her in that respect, I suppose, if no other.”
Drake shrugged noncommittally. He was trying to think of a way to politely extricate himself from this conversation when the tone of Cecile’s voice changed. “I’ve heard a lot about you, too, you know. Every conversation I had with Jemmy, used to be Dee this, Dee-sempai that. Now he talks about you a lot. ‘Drake-sempai got mad at Dee-sempai today. He yelled at him loud enough to be heard in our office’ or ‘Drake-sempai bought me lunch today. It was so funny, him trying not to wince at the jalapenos I had on my sandwich.’ I think he trusts you.” Cecile regarded him evenly. “That’s saying something. Jemmy doesn’t trust many people anymore. He was hurt badly by someone he trusted once and then again when that Max Fork fellow suckered him and hurt you trying to steal that cocaine. I remember how upset that made him. For a while there, he just cut himself off. Tried not to care. You actually helped there. He said you wouldn’t let him alone. Eventually, he had to stop sulking just to get you to stop bothering him.”
Drake chuckled reluctantly. “He was acting like he was going to jump off a bridge. I made sure he didn’t get the opportunity.”
Cecile smiled at him. “And that went a long way toward helping him.”
Drake shrugged, discomfited.
Cecile smiled at him and bent to pick up her dog. “I should go before poor Spooks can’t hold it anymore. Are you going to keep an eye on Jemmy?”
Fixed in her blue gaze, Drake found himself nodding. There was something about Cecile that made it impossible to say no. Come to think of it, it was the same with JJ.
Satisfied, Cecile grinned again, looking disconcertingly like JJ, and turned to leave.
Drake was still staring blankly at the kitchen doorway when the sound of JJ’s front door closing snapped him out of it. Drake thumped his forehead with the palm of one hand like it might knock some of the cobwebs loose. That woman was downright scary.
Since he had agreed to watch JJ, Drake sighed and rinsed out the two mugs and the coffeepot. He had a feeling he didn’t need any more coffee today. He puttered around the kitchen, putting things away and looking helplessly for a reason to be here. Finally, he decided that he should see if he could find something to fix for dinner. He might as well make himself useful.
Drake rooted around in JJ’s (way-too-neat) cabinets and freezer before deciding on a chicken pasta he and his little sister had created one night after a particularly disastrous pair of dates (one his, that he did not care to remember, and one hers, which she had vowed to forget if it killed her) had sent them seeking solace in a pitcher of Sangria and late-night cable movies. After two glasses apiece, they had decided it was time for something to eat. After much giggling and lunacy, they had managed to make something not only edible, but good.
“Contrary to popular belief,” Sally had teased. “Single cops can cook!”
That had earned her an ice cube in her bra. Drake chuckled at the memory as he set the chicken out to thaw and made the marinade. He covered the bowl and stuck it in the fridge until the chicken thawed. He sighed and wandered into the living room and turned on the TV, keeping the volume low, so he wouldn’t wake JJ. After twenty minutes of nothing but talk shows and soaps he turned the TV back off with a disgusted grunt. He had forgotten how much he hated daytime TV.
Not for the first time, he wondered why the hell he was still here. JJ was a big boy and could take care of himself. For the most part, his traitorous mind whispered softly. Drake grunted and shook his head. He was lying to himself, insisting to himself that it was because of Cecile that he was still here, looking after JJ.
He was here because he wanted to be. Drake slumped. It was unavoidable. He had to admit it. He liked looking after JJ. JJ made him laugh, and kept him from taking himself too seriously. And it was weird, but he cared that JJ came to him first and depended on him like he did. More and more often, Drake was the one who managed to cheer JJ whenever Dee went off on him.
Drake shook his head again, trying hard to get his mind to shut the hell up. For god’s sake, it was making him sound like he was in-
“Drake-sempai?”
Drake jumped a foot and whirled, his heart pounding in his throat. JJ stood in the doorway, blue shadows under his eyes. He leaned heavily on the doorframe, and stared at Drake like he wasn’t sure whether or not he was seeing things. “JJ! You should be in bed.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Keeping an eye on you. Your aunt Cecile’s orders.”
A wan smile flitted across JJ’s features. “She worries too much.”
Drake rose. “She cares. And to tell the truth, you really should be lying down. Look at you. You can barely stand up straight.”
JJ chuckled softly, holding onto the doorframe. “You could be right. But I can’t sleep. My mind keeps going in little circles, no matter how much I want to fall asleep.”
Drake chuckled with him. “I can understand that. C’mon. Lets get you back into bed and then I’ll bore you until you can’t stay awake.”
That got a real laugh out of JJ, and there was a sparkle of humor in his blue eyes. “You’re not that boring, Drake-sempai.”
Drake laughed, taking JJ by the shoulders and turning him back toward the bedroom. “Watch me. I can make Ben Stein seem like the liveliest person on the planet.”
JJ laughed and let Drake steer him back down the hall, supporting some of his weight without a word of complaint.
Drake tucked JJ back into bed and sat casually on the edge of the bed, one foot tucked under him. JJ watched him with eyes that were slowly clearing of the drug haze. Drake chuckled softly. “Want me to read you the phone book? A guaranteed cure for insomnia.”
JJ laughed and settled himself more comfortably. He discovered he loved the warm, affectionate sound of Drake’s voice. He thought the phone book didn’t sound like such a bad idea, if it meant he got to listen to Drake talk. “Nah. Just talk to me. About anything. I don’t care what.”
Drake laughed. “You got it.”