Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Chasers: 2075 ❯ Chapter 20

Chasers 2075: Part Nineteen

"Now this," Kate sighed, "is a good cup of coffee." The brow haired officer was clearly enjoying her cup, savoring it like a true coffee hound.

"I missed this," Jen agreed as she took a sip of her own cup. The cozy little cafe bustled around them, waitresses going back and forth, tables with men and women all around them. The blonde looked over at Kate thoughtfully, wondering if she should ask her something.

"What?" Kate raised an eyebrow.

"I've heard about you on the departmental grapevine," Jen blushed, "but I've never really asked you about it... are you a lesbian?"

Kate hesitated, then said "Yes, I am." She smiled over at Jen wryly, "A non-practicing one at the moment, though."

Jen really wanted to ask her why, but something in Kate's eyes told her not to ask anything more. There was grief there in those eyes, loss and a deep pain. Kate had lost someone very close to her, that was crystal clear.

'I wonder,' Jen thought as she drank a bit more of her coffee, 'if it was that Lynn I keep hearing about?' She finished off her cup, noticing that Kate's was done as well and said, "Guess we should get back, huh?"

"There's no rest for the wicked," Kate agreed as the two of them got up. Jen headed out first, Kate lingering to grab her jacket.

"You two make a cute couple," the waitress said with a smile.

Kate looked at her in surprise, "We're not a couple!"

The waitress raised her eyebrow and smirked, "Not yet, maybe."

Kate was left rather speechless as the busty waitress sauntered off, her hips swaying, to go serve some of the other customers. With a sheepish shake of her head Kate went off outside, only to meet Jen's quite concerned gaze.

"What's wrong?" Jen asked.

Kate smiled slightly, "It seems we acted just a bit too well in there." With that she recapped her little conversation with the waitress inside.

Jen blushed, "Sorry." They walked towads her car, "I don't think you'd have been that big of a hit without that kiss you gave me."

Kate climbed into the passenger's seat and pointedly asked, "Do you think that your old flame would have bought it without the kiss?"

"Probably not," Jen had to agree. They drove back to the station house smoothly, the conversation kept down to a minimum. Jen popped open the passenger door for Kate and grinned, "Thanks for helping me out."

"You're welcome," Kate said with a smile.

"Do you think I could take you out," Jen said to her a bit tentatively, "for dinner, maybe, to pay you back for all this?"

Kate sighed softly, "I'm sorry, Jen." With a grim smile, "I don't date other cops." She firmly shut the door and strode off silently.

Jen watched her go in surprise, stunned by the sudden cold shoulder. "Shit," she swore softly, then pulled back out into traffic.

"Kate hesitated at the door, watching Jen drive away. 'Not again,' she thought to herself sadly, 'I don't think I could stand it happening to me again.' Trying to banish any feelings of guilt she might be feeling, Kate walked inside.

The halls were pretty quiet as Kate made her way to the command center, nodding to Beth who was working away on one of the computers, playing a game on another, and reading statistics off a third all at the same time.

"I'll clock you back in," Beth smirked.

"What?" Kate frowned.

Beth reached up to touch her lips pointedly as the redhead said, "That deep shade of red really doesn't suit you very well."

Kate went beet red as she realized some of Jen's lipstick had come off on her own lips. She scrubbed her lips with a napkin while Beth sat there smirking. "Not a word," Kate growled, "to anyone about this, got it?"

"Must have been an interesting break," Beth smiled.

"Nothing happened," Kate scowled, "I was just helping out Jen."

"Ah," Beth nodded thoughtfully, "she nealy drowned, despite us being on dry land, and you had to give her mouth to mouth to save her! That's it."

Kate opened her mouth to say something, then closed it. There wasn't much she could say about it, and she'd probably just be digging herself even deeper. "Never mind," she sighed and walked back to her office. Cubicle, really, but they called it an office.

In another part of the building Gwen nodded to the image of her superior officer on the view screen. "Yes sir," the stylis Asian woman made a note, "the meeting's tomorrow at thirteen hundred hours. May I ask what will be discussed at this meeting?"

"Several proposals regarding the android situation are going to be discussed before we pass them on to the Mayor," the grey haired man said smoothly, "and your imput is needed."

"Of course," Gwen nodded, knowing that he'd told her almost nothing, likely intentionally. Her boss cut the connection first, leaving Gwen alone with her thoughts. 'They're looking into moving on the free-will issue,' Gwen thought to herself bleakly.

Gwen looked around her small office, the walls hanging with awards and citations. There were a few photos of awards ceremonies, a photo with the Mayor and Chief of Police, and a couple of others, but nothing personal there, none of family or friends. She got up out of her desks, taking down the one of her, the Chief and the Mayor, her expression unreadable, then she put it back up.

Flopping down in her leather chair Gwen put her hands behind her head. Softly she sighed, "So what do I do now?" She reached over to key in a comunicator sequence, and smiled as it was almost immediately answered.

"Alexis Jameson's office," the dark haired, European doctor turned to look at the screen and smiled happily on seeing her, "Oh, Gwen! What can I do for you?"

Looking quite serious Gwen said, "Do you think we could have dinner tomorrow?"

Alexis knew how to read her ex-lover very well, "What's wrong?"

"I can't talk about it here," Gwen said regretfully, "could we meet after work tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow then," Alexis nodded, giving Gwen a worried glance.

To be continued...