Alex Part 2

I headed for the stairs, buckling my belt, and heard a loud thumping sound of a man landing on the tile floor.  I ignored that and headed down the stairs.  The upper levels held offices and conference rooms and bureaucratic things like that.  My own little desk was up there but I hardly ever visited it.  Instead, I spent most of my time on the lower levels below the earth.  There I could hit the gym or the mess hall or the rec room.

I turned left, and passed by several officers.  They glanced at me, but didn’t acknowledge me.  I didn’t recognize them so I could assume that they worked the Day Watch.  This area of the building was for staff only, but they didn’t stop me to question why I was there and who I was.  I must’ve been a familiar face for them, or something.

“Simms!”

I turned about, and saw two of my fellow Night Watch officers striding quickly to me.  Both of them were in civilian clothes, though they both had their badges hanging off on their belts.

“Candy, Wyrst.”

Pete Candy was taller than me and burlier than me.  Stereo-typically, he was likable as he was intimidating.  He was also a hugger and he wrapped me in a bear hug, lifting me as he squeezed the breath out of me.

His partner, Kelly Wyrst, stood roughly my height, which was tall for a woman.  Her body stood more stocky than willowy, due to her many years of active weight lifting.  She waited until John was done until she gripped my hand in a tight grip, mashing my fingers together in a pint-sized vice.

“You already causing trouble?”  Kelly let go of my hand and took a half-step back.

“Trouble, me?”  I pointed to myself.  “I do no such thing.”

Pete laughed.  “We came in just as you headed down.  What’s with you and messing with the Day Watch?”

We all glanced at the couple of officers I had passed earlier.  The three of them were joined by that Johnny Boy officer, and they stood in a circle deep in conversation.  I caught one of them glance my way and locked eyes with me, before turning back to his fellows.

“Not the Day Watch itself,” I answered softly.  “Just more the rookies.”

Kelly shook her head, cracking a smirk.  “Do we want to know?”

“It’s nothing serious.”  I waved my hand to dismiss the thought.  “What are you guys doing in this early?”

Pete covered a yawn.  “We were gonna hit the gym.  But maybe I need some coffee first.”

Kelly gave him a disapproving look.  “You can get that later.  You said you would work on your cardio today.”

“That was before I wanted coffee.”

“You coming, Alex?”

I took another glance down the hallway to the group of four Day Watch officers.  “I think that’ll be best.”

Kelly yanked on Pete’s arm, forcing him to follow her.  I trailed behind them and we made our way to the locker rooms.  I had a locker inside, where I stored some spare gym clothes.  I changed into shorts and a tee shirt.  I left the locker room and into the weight room.

There were two main rooms for the gym.  One of them was built like a weight room, and the other was the actual gymnasium.  Some of the younger rookies would play some basketball in there, or sometimes we would hold lessons for self-defense.  There were half a dozen smaller patted rooms for that as well, though most of the time they were in use by practicing officers.

Inside the weight room, Kelly had started stretching by the treadmills.  I was about to head to her when Pete clapped me on the shoulder.

“Don’t worry about those Day Watch guys.”  He whispered low.

“What?”

“I know what your aim is.  If there’s a scuffle you wanted us to watch your back, right?”

I shook my head.  “Rather not have a fight over something as trivial as that.”

“Same here.  But that one kid looks pissed enough to try something.”  Pete shrugged.  “But don’t worry about it.  They can’t do jack about that now.”

“What did you do?”

Pete laughed, and guided me to Kelly.  “Nothing.  I’m betting that that kid is smart enough not to fight on the clock.  He’ll wait until he’s off the clock before going for you.”

“Lovely.  Just what I want.”  I joined Kelly in stretching.

We all chose a treadmill, and set the timer for an hour.  Kelly and Pete both wore ear buds, and listened to some sort of music.  I would do the same, but I had left my little ipod classic back at home.  I hadn’t planned on spending the rest of my morning here.  It is what it is.  Besides, I had a lot of things to digest anyway.

An hour later we all slowed down our run.  I was drenched with sweat, and it took a lot of self will not to collapse and pant my way to a blissful sleep.  Instead, I followed Kelly and Pete into a cool down, sipping at the water fountain and walking about.  Kelly looked like she would go straight into weights, but both Pete and myself vetoed that decision.  I was hungry, and Pete was craving his coffee.

I returned to the locker room.  I showered, and changed back into civilian clothes.  Pete was already changed, as well as Kelly by the time I left the locker room.  He led the way to the mess hall, with Kelly and myself trailing behind.

“You okay there, Alex?”

I glanced at Kelly.  “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“You sure?  You looked like you were about to faint earlier.”

“That’s ’cause we ran for an hour.  I thought that we would run for a half hour, maybe forty five minutes.”

“An hour is easy.  We had to do worse to get onto the Night Watch.”

I shook my head.  “Only one lung, remember?”

“They gave you one to replace it.”  Pete called out from up front.

“Not the same,” I called back.

“It still works, and you still survived.”  Kelly patted my back.  “Now let’s get some food.”

Thankfully she dropped it.  She must have seen the look in my eyes.  Entering the mess hall, we set up a spot close to the food.  Kelly and I both grabbed a plate brimming with food, in this case, cold cuts.  Pete grabbed two, and about a half-gallon of coffee.

We dug in without much ceremony.  I was mid bite into my third sandwich when I heard my name being called.  Turning in my seat I saw an old man with a Hitler ‘stache and a big fat cigar between his lips.  I groaned, and ate a little faster.  He stopped and leaned at our table, tilting the thing to one side.

“Simms.”

“Mmmph?”  I kept on chewing.

“My office.  Five minutes.”  He pushed down on the table, and backed up.  He turned around and headed out.

I swallowed.  “Look, if this is about that kid—”

He spun back around, his lips quivering.  “Five minutes.  Don’t be late.”

I sighed as soon as he left the room.  “Wonderful.”

Pete and Kelly gave me sympathetic glances.  “Good luck.”

I huffed and grabbed a sandwich.  I got up and started out to his office located on the third floor.

My boss was a mix of Hitler and Jolly Jonah Jameson.  He could placate a crowd, and could lead his men very well.  But he had a nasty temper and would do all he could to punish those who angered him.  Luckily for us, his temper was few and far between.   And despite his anger and rage, he also supported his men full-heartedly.

He was a finicky man at best.

I knocked on his office door with fifteen seconds to spare.  My own desk was on this floor, though it wasn’t anywhere nearly as fancy as my boss’s.  He had one corner of the place walled off behind huge glass windows.  We could see in, but we couldn’t hear what was going on inside.  He waved me in from behind his desk.  I entered and closed the door behind me.

“What do you need?”

He didn’t answer at first.  He just stared at me, sizing me up as I stood there waiting for his reply.   The cigar between his teeth wavered slightly.

“Dammit, Alex.  Why’d you have to make my life difficult?”

“Look, if it’s about what happened earlier—”

“Yes it is.  You just can’t pick up a fellow officer and hang him from a metal detector.”

“He had it coming.”

“Beside the point.”  He got up and looked me in the eye.  “You are an anomaly, even among the Night Watch.  That anomaly makes you stand out, which makes me stand out.  You dick around like that, they look at me.”

“I get it.  Jeez.”  I sat down in the chair in front of his desk.  “Don’t put rookies in their place.”

“It’s not just that.  You’ve been here longer than most.  You know our ways by now.  We can’t have this rebel bullshit you’ve been pulling.”

“I don’t want to talk about the accident.  That’s all, okay?”

My boss shut up then.  If anything, he was sympathetic to what had happened to me.  Whenever I pulled out the accident card, he quieted down and spoke more rationally.  And it was true, I didn’t want to talk about what had happened then.  Only those who didn’t know what happened back then would talk about it so openly.

“I get it.  Just don’t let it happen again.”

I nodded.  “Will do.  So why are you here anyway?  You don’t work day shifts.”

“You know Collins?”

“Jim?  Yeah.  What about it?”

“He had a funeral to attend to, so he won’t be in.”

“Damn.”

“I feel sorry for the bloke.  No one should have to bury their own kid.”

“I know.”

We were both silent as he eyed me.

“So you’re here too—”

“Replace his shift.”  He handed me a piece of paper.  “Here, for you.”

I took a quick glance.  “I have off tonight.”

“Not anymore.  You start work at ten.”

“I have the kid tonight.”

“And Collins doesn’t.  Deal with it.”

“This is my punishment?”

“You can think of it like that.  Don’t do it again.”  I got up to leave, crumpling the paper into my pocket.  “I’ll make sure to give you time and a half.”

“Thanks.”  I smiled and left his office.

I made my way back down into the mess hall.  I wanted to meet back up with Pete and Kelly.  Entering the mess hall, I spied them finishing their food.  I slipped back into my seat and stuffed half a sandwich into my mouth.

“So, did he chew you out?”  Pete asked.

I finished chewing and nodded.  “Chewed me out, but agreed that the kid deserved it.  Told me to take Collins’ shift for tonight.”

“That’s not that bad,” Kelly said.

I grabbed another sandwich.  “Not bad at all.”  I made to leave.

“Gotta go?”  Kelly asked.

“Yeah, I wanna get some new shoes before the kid comes home.”

“Alright.”  Pete swallowed the last of his coffee.  “Best of luck with tonight then.”

I nodded my thanks and left the table.  On my way out I reached for my phone and quick-dialed Suz.  It took three rings, but she finally answered it.

“Alex?”

“Hey, Suz.”

“What is it, can you make it quick?”

“Got called in to cover a shift.  I got to leave at 9:30 or so.”

“Dammit, Alex…not again.”

“Listen, I don’t want it any more than you do.  What time do you come home?”

“Just about nine.  I got to go.”

“Alright.  Love ya, Suz.”

“Love you too, Alex.”  She hung up.
I slipped the phone back into my pocket.  I sighed, letting out a huff of hot air.  With her husband gone, it was rough for Danny not having two parents around.  That’s where I came in, but even then I was gone all night.  I wanted to be there for my kid, even if he wasn’t mine.  The shit I have to do.