Secrets In Your Eyes
Secrets In Your Eyes
Chapter 9
Chapter Wordcount: 2467
Fraser was headed towards the bullpen when the collar of his serge, which was normally pretty snug to begin with, became even tighter, choking him as he felt someone grab a hold of his tunic and yank him into Interrogation Room Two.
He regained his footing, turning to see who had caught him unawares just in time to see Tayla hop up onto the table, grin on her face.
“Tayla! What are you doing here…”
She hooked her foot behind his knee, throwing him off balance, again, and pulled him in between her thighs.
He muttered oh dear under his breath just as he caught himself with his hands on the table on either side of her.
“I brought you boys lunch,” she grinned, “Just wanted to see you for a minute.”
“Ah.”
He couldn’t help but return her smile and had no desire to resist when she pulled him into a kiss.
Fraser shuffled his feet into a more stable stance and let himself lean into her warmth, sliding one hand along her thigh where she wrapped it around his hip, the other he lifted to cradle the back of her head.
***
What neither realized is Gardino had seen Fraser get unceremoniously yanked into the interview room by an unseen force and after peeking his head into the viewing room long enough to realize that it was Tayla who had pulled him inside, he had giggled his way all the way back to the bullpen to get Huey in on the joke.
“Well will you get a load of that… the Mountie’s actually got game,” Huey chuckled.
“I know right, who woulda guessed,” Gardino shot back, thinking this was the most hilarious thing he had ever seen.
***
Tayla sighed against his lips, slipping her fingers through the buttons of his jacket to just barely touch his undershirt, warm from his body, underneath, about as much as she could do without going through the convoluted process of removing the uniform entirely.
“Don’t get me wrong, I love the uniform, but god can it be annoying,” she smiled, wiggling her fingers in the tight confines of his jacket, and kissing the corner of his lips.
He chuckled quietly, pulling his hands away from her to brace himself on the table again, resting his forehead against hers and leaning his body weight into her as if he couldn’t help himself.
“Yes, it can be rather… restricting,” he ground out, the pressure between them leaving her no doubt as to his current predicament.
She laughed, looping her arms around his neck and letting him rest against her, tucking his face into her collar.
“Sorry,” she giggled, “I really didn’t mean to, just wanted to say hey.”
“I know,” he mumbled against her skin, pulling back to kiss her softly, the whole tone of their encounter shifting from rushed and heated to quiet and relaxed. She grinned, carding her fingers through his hair and let him just breathe against her, content to just be close while he calmed himself.
***
Huey shut his mouth and Gardino cleared his throat, suddenly uncomfortable. Seeing Fraser seemingly know what to actually do with a woman had been entertaining, but now, it was clear they were eavesdropping on a private moment.
That’s also the moment Ray opened the door, freezing when he saw them standing there in what he had assumed was going to be an empty room.
“What are you two chuckleheads doing…” he trailed off, eyes going wide when he looked through the one way mirror to see his two best friends in about as intimate an embrace as you could get without needing an X rating.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing you pervs?! Those are my two best friends!”
“Relax Vecchio! We were just rating the Mountie’s skill level!”
“Out! Out! Both of you creeps! She’s like my sister and he’s like my brother and that did not come out anywhere near the way I meant it to, just get out!”
Gardino flipped him the bird as he sauntered down the hallway.
***
“Goddamnit!” she growled, throwing a pen towards the wall, narrowly missing Jason, one of her guys, walking through the doorway.
“Whoa… I’m hoping that wasn’t aimed at me.”
“It ran out of ink,” she mumbled, waving one hand while rubbing her temple with the other, where the beginnings of a headache were starting to crawl across her skull.
“You alright T?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” she sighed, sitting back in her chair. “What’s up?” she asked, desperately hoping for a distraction.
She hadn’t really been alright all day. She’d been aggravated and testy for no reason. Felt like there was static under her skin, making her restless, causing her to constantly wander back and forth between the shop and her office. Had been quite curt with a couple customers to be honest.
She had outright blown up earlier when they guys had been screwing around and exploded an empty coolant jug with the air hose. On a normal day she would have laughed with them, rationally she knew this, instead she had cussed every single one of them out, rather creatively really, until they were all just standing frozen watching her with wide eyes.
She had flushed, half in the adrenaline of anger and half in embarrassment and retreated back to her office. She bought the whole team lunch as an apology.
“Why don’t you go home T,” Jason offered, sitting in the chair across from her desk.
“Sorry,” she groaned, dropping her head into her hands. “I know I’ve been a bitch all day.”
Jason chuckled and grabbed a repair order off her desk.
“Relax. Head home, you’re having an off day, clearly something’s got you restless. Go on, we’ve got this.”
She sighed, lifting her head to smile at him, grateful everyone on her crew watched each other’s backs.
“Thanks hun. Can you just make sure Mrs. Braxton’s Oldsmobile gets done? I promised it to her in the morning.”
“Yeah, no problem T. Now get outta here,” he grinned.
***
She didn’t go home. Instead she drove aimlessly through town. Normally just the act of driving calmed her down. It was like meditation for her, moving, feeling the car. It was relaxing, had been ever since she had first gotten her license.
For some reason today it was not working.
It was almost making her feel more agitated. Every traffic light seemed timed to screw with her. And every person in Chicago that had no business being behind the wheel of a car seemed to be on the road with the sole purpose of pissing her off.
She drove over to the station but a glance at the parking lot told her the Riviera wasn’t there so she didn’t bother stopping, instead turning towards Fraser’s apartment.
She had just knocked on Fraser’s door for the second time when Mr. Mustafi popped his head out of his apartment behind her.
“He’s not home sweetie.”
She just sighed and nodded.
“Thanks Mr. Mustafi,” she mumbled, patting his shoulder as she passed him and headed back down the stairs.
She gave up and headed home. She attempted to read for a bit, but could barely focus enough to get through a single page. So she took a short shower and then proceeded to pace around the house absentmindedly for so long that when she finally drug herself out of her head she discovered she was completely dried off.
Something was wrong.
Something just felt wrong.
She snatched her phone off the cradle and called the 27th.
Welsh told her they weren’t at the station, but if he saw them he’d tell Ray to call her.
She didn’t bother telling him she had already called Ray’s phone, a couple times actually, and had gotten no response. She just thanked the Lieutenant and hung up with a sigh.
***
Finally a few hours later the phone rang.
Her heart dropped when she heard Elaine’s voice on the other end.
“Are they okay?” she cut her off.
“Yeah, they’re fine. A little worse for wear maybe, but they’re alright. Figured you’d wanna know.”
“Thanks Elaine,” she said, already grabbing her car keys.
“No problem hun.”
***
She sidestepped a beat cop and shouldered the swinging door open, eyes instantly shooting towards Ray’s desk in the corner.
Fraser was sitting in the extra chair, his serge was filthy, partially unbuttoned and caked with mud, dripping a pool of nasty looking water onto the tile floor beneath him.
Her rushed, heavy footsteps caught his attention and he shot to his feet when he saw her, boots squelching with water.
“Tayla!”
She was not slowing her approach any and he held out his hands in front of himself to stop her.
“I’m soaking wet…”
“I don’t give a shit,” she bit out, grabbing him and hugging him fiercely, unconcerned with the cold water soaking into her own clothes.
He froze under the assault before smiling and hugging her back.
“Are you alright?” she asked, grabbing his arms and holding him out in front of her for inspection.
“Yes, I’m alright, I promise,” he assured her. “The perpetrator we were pursuing tried to escape by jumping into the river, we were forced to follow.”
“Jesus,” she hissed, rubbing a hand over her face, recoiling when the stench of the water reached her nose. “You boys are gonna be the death of me.”
That’s when Ray emerged from Welsh’s office. Whatever name brand suit it was he was wearing was far beyond saving, caked with the same algae and mud that Fraser’s serge was.
“Tay…”
Tayla hauled him into a hug before he could get another word out.
He froze, hands held out to the side, as if that saved her from his soaked clothing and shot Fraser a wide eyed look over her shoulder.
“She’s already hugged me as well,” he chuckled.
Ray rolled his eyes and grinned, finally giving Tayla a pat on the back.
“Are you alright?” she snapped, holding him away from her and inspecting him in the same way she had Benton.
“Well, I’m cold, I’m wet, I stink to high heaven and I just ruined a $300 suit… but yeah,” he grinned. “I’m alright.”
She rolled her eyes and held out her hand.
“Gimme your keys… I’ll go get you some dry clothes.”
Ray sidestepped her and went to his desk, grabbing his keys off the top and snapping the keyring off that held his house key.
“You want another uniform or just regular clothes?” she asked Fraser.
“Regular clothes are fine, thank you kindly.”
She kissed them both on the cheek before heading back out to the parking lot.
***
When she returned less than an hour later she was carrying a duffle bag full of clothes and had a messenger bag slung over her shoulder containing some hot, pressed sandwiches from the café down the street they often got lunch from.
Ray’s desk was vacant. Fraser’s Stetson, which had apparently escaped the plunge into the river, sat on top.
“They’re in the interrogation room with the creep.” Elaine offered.
Tayla smiled and nodded in acknowledgement, tugging the strap of the bag with the food up over her head and placing it on the desk next to Fraser’s hat.
“Those boys don’t realize how lucky they are,” Elaine grinned when Tayla turned to head towards the hallway.
Tayla grinned and winked.
***
Ray stopped short as he came out of the interrogation, caught off guard by Tayla leaning against the wall across from the door.
The duffle bag sat open at her feet and she just smirked and held out a stack of clothes piled on top of a fluffy towel.
Ray grinned, taking the handful from her and leaned in to kiss her on the cheek.
“You’re the best, thanks hun,” he said, heading down the hall towards where the station’s locker room and showers were.
Fraser was standing in the doorway waiting, soft smile on his face.
She grinned and bent down, retrieving his stack of clothes and a towel.
He glanced down each direction of the hallway, which was quieter than normal but not entirely empty, but decided he didn’t care if anyone was watching and leaned towards her, kissing her softly.
“Thank you,” he whispered against her lips, she just grinned and kissed him again.
***
By the time they both made it out of the showers, Tayla had the food spread out over Ray’s desk and had jammed a third chair in the tiny corner between his desk and the file cabinet where she was picking at her own sandwich.
Ray and Fraser looked at each other and grinned.
Fraser sat down in the chair next to Tayla, dropping his hand briefly onto her knee, where she had her foot propped up on the rung of his own chair and wordlessly thanked her for the meal with a soft squeeze.
Ray groaned around his bite of food, he had been starving for hours now after the disastrous chase.
“Careful Benny, I might steal her from you,” he grinned, winking at Tayla who rolled her eyes.
“Well technically Ray, she was yours first,” Fraser said simply before taking a bite of his own sandwich.
Ray swallowed whole, dropping his sandwich and hacking in surprise.
“You told him?!” he yelped, shooting a panicked look towards Tayla.
“What?” she asked sarcastically, “That I’ve slept with his best friend? Of course I told him.”
“That’s private business!”
“Yeah, my private business… which he is now privy to.”
“It’s quite alright Ray, that was years before I knew either of you.”
“Oh lord this is so awkward,” he groaned.
“Relax,” Tayla laughed. “I told him we were just friends, it’s not like we had been in a serious relationship.”
“Really Ray, it doesn’t bother me. If nothing else I’m somewhat grateful to know you two shared a trusting, solid friendship.”
Ray just looked at him like he lost his mind.
“A friendship that included sex,” Tayla mumbled, grinning when Ray shot her a look.
“What?! We were friends Ray, we were close, I trusted you, I felt safe, better than me sleeping with half the football team.”
“My sentiments precisely,” Fraser answered, shuffling some papers on the desk around.
“I have the weirdest friends in the world.”
Tayla stuck her tongue out.
“And what on earth are you doing?”
Fraser looked up at him and blinked.
“Filling out our report,” he said, pen poised above the paper in one hand and his sandwich in his other.
“Can’t you just enjoy your food?”
“Well I am Ray, but it’s efficient to get a start on the paperwork as well.”
Ray rolled his eyes and returned to his own meal.
Previous: Chapter Eight | Next: Chapter Ten
Chapter 9
Chapter Wordcount: 2467
Fraser was headed towards the bullpen when the collar of his serge, which was normally pretty snug to begin with, became even tighter, choking him as he felt someone grab a hold of his tunic and yank him into Interrogation Room Two.
He regained his footing, turning to see who had caught him unawares just in time to see Tayla hop up onto the table, grin on her face.
“Tayla! What are you doing here…”
She hooked her foot behind his knee, throwing him off balance, again, and pulled him in between her thighs.
He muttered oh dear under his breath just as he caught himself with his hands on the table on either side of her.
“I brought you boys lunch,” she grinned, “Just wanted to see you for a minute.”
“Ah.”
He couldn’t help but return her smile and had no desire to resist when she pulled him into a kiss.
Fraser shuffled his feet into a more stable stance and let himself lean into her warmth, sliding one hand along her thigh where she wrapped it around his hip, the other he lifted to cradle the back of her head.
***
What neither realized is Gardino had seen Fraser get unceremoniously yanked into the interview room by an unseen force and after peeking his head into the viewing room long enough to realize that it was Tayla who had pulled him inside, he had giggled his way all the way back to the bullpen to get Huey in on the joke.
“Well will you get a load of that… the Mountie’s actually got game,” Huey chuckled.
“I know right, who woulda guessed,” Gardino shot back, thinking this was the most hilarious thing he had ever seen.
***
Tayla sighed against his lips, slipping her fingers through the buttons of his jacket to just barely touch his undershirt, warm from his body, underneath, about as much as she could do without going through the convoluted process of removing the uniform entirely.
“Don’t get me wrong, I love the uniform, but god can it be annoying,” she smiled, wiggling her fingers in the tight confines of his jacket, and kissing the corner of his lips.
He chuckled quietly, pulling his hands away from her to brace himself on the table again, resting his forehead against hers and leaning his body weight into her as if he couldn’t help himself.
“Yes, it can be rather… restricting,” he ground out, the pressure between them leaving her no doubt as to his current predicament.
She laughed, looping her arms around his neck and letting him rest against her, tucking his face into her collar.
“Sorry,” she giggled, “I really didn’t mean to, just wanted to say hey.”
“I know,” he mumbled against her skin, pulling back to kiss her softly, the whole tone of their encounter shifting from rushed and heated to quiet and relaxed. She grinned, carding her fingers through his hair and let him just breathe against her, content to just be close while he calmed himself.
***
Huey shut his mouth and Gardino cleared his throat, suddenly uncomfortable. Seeing Fraser seemingly know what to actually do with a woman had been entertaining, but now, it was clear they were eavesdropping on a private moment.
That’s also the moment Ray opened the door, freezing when he saw them standing there in what he had assumed was going to be an empty room.
“What are you two chuckleheads doing…” he trailed off, eyes going wide when he looked through the one way mirror to see his two best friends in about as intimate an embrace as you could get without needing an X rating.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing you pervs?! Those are my two best friends!”
“Relax Vecchio! We were just rating the Mountie’s skill level!”
“Out! Out! Both of you creeps! She’s like my sister and he’s like my brother and that did not come out anywhere near the way I meant it to, just get out!”
Gardino flipped him the bird as he sauntered down the hallway.
***
“Goddamnit!” she growled, throwing a pen towards the wall, narrowly missing Jason, one of her guys, walking through the doorway.
“Whoa… I’m hoping that wasn’t aimed at me.”
“It ran out of ink,” she mumbled, waving one hand while rubbing her temple with the other, where the beginnings of a headache were starting to crawl across her skull.
“You alright T?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” she sighed, sitting back in her chair. “What’s up?” she asked, desperately hoping for a distraction.
She hadn’t really been alright all day. She’d been aggravated and testy for no reason. Felt like there was static under her skin, making her restless, causing her to constantly wander back and forth between the shop and her office. Had been quite curt with a couple customers to be honest.
She had outright blown up earlier when they guys had been screwing around and exploded an empty coolant jug with the air hose. On a normal day she would have laughed with them, rationally she knew this, instead she had cussed every single one of them out, rather creatively really, until they were all just standing frozen watching her with wide eyes.
She had flushed, half in the adrenaline of anger and half in embarrassment and retreated back to her office. She bought the whole team lunch as an apology.
“Why don’t you go home T,” Jason offered, sitting in the chair across from her desk.
“Sorry,” she groaned, dropping her head into her hands. “I know I’ve been a bitch all day.”
Jason chuckled and grabbed a repair order off her desk.
“Relax. Head home, you’re having an off day, clearly something’s got you restless. Go on, we’ve got this.”
She sighed, lifting her head to smile at him, grateful everyone on her crew watched each other’s backs.
“Thanks hun. Can you just make sure Mrs. Braxton’s Oldsmobile gets done? I promised it to her in the morning.”
“Yeah, no problem T. Now get outta here,” he grinned.
***
She didn’t go home. Instead she drove aimlessly through town. Normally just the act of driving calmed her down. It was like meditation for her, moving, feeling the car. It was relaxing, had been ever since she had first gotten her license.
For some reason today it was not working.
It was almost making her feel more agitated. Every traffic light seemed timed to screw with her. And every person in Chicago that had no business being behind the wheel of a car seemed to be on the road with the sole purpose of pissing her off.
She drove over to the station but a glance at the parking lot told her the Riviera wasn’t there so she didn’t bother stopping, instead turning towards Fraser’s apartment.
She had just knocked on Fraser’s door for the second time when Mr. Mustafi popped his head out of his apartment behind her.
“He’s not home sweetie.”
She just sighed and nodded.
“Thanks Mr. Mustafi,” she mumbled, patting his shoulder as she passed him and headed back down the stairs.
She gave up and headed home. She attempted to read for a bit, but could barely focus enough to get through a single page. So she took a short shower and then proceeded to pace around the house absentmindedly for so long that when she finally drug herself out of her head she discovered she was completely dried off.
Something was wrong.
Something just felt wrong.
She snatched her phone off the cradle and called the 27th.
Welsh told her they weren’t at the station, but if he saw them he’d tell Ray to call her.
She didn’t bother telling him she had already called Ray’s phone, a couple times actually, and had gotten no response. She just thanked the Lieutenant and hung up with a sigh.
***
Finally a few hours later the phone rang.
Her heart dropped when she heard Elaine’s voice on the other end.
“Are they okay?” she cut her off.
“Yeah, they’re fine. A little worse for wear maybe, but they’re alright. Figured you’d wanna know.”
“Thanks Elaine,” she said, already grabbing her car keys.
“No problem hun.”
***
She sidestepped a beat cop and shouldered the swinging door open, eyes instantly shooting towards Ray’s desk in the corner.
Fraser was sitting in the extra chair, his serge was filthy, partially unbuttoned and caked with mud, dripping a pool of nasty looking water onto the tile floor beneath him.
Her rushed, heavy footsteps caught his attention and he shot to his feet when he saw her, boots squelching with water.
“Tayla!”
She was not slowing her approach any and he held out his hands in front of himself to stop her.
“I’m soaking wet…”
“I don’t give a shit,” she bit out, grabbing him and hugging him fiercely, unconcerned with the cold water soaking into her own clothes.
He froze under the assault before smiling and hugging her back.
“Are you alright?” she asked, grabbing his arms and holding him out in front of her for inspection.
“Yes, I’m alright, I promise,” he assured her. “The perpetrator we were pursuing tried to escape by jumping into the river, we were forced to follow.”
“Jesus,” she hissed, rubbing a hand over her face, recoiling when the stench of the water reached her nose. “You boys are gonna be the death of me.”
That’s when Ray emerged from Welsh’s office. Whatever name brand suit it was he was wearing was far beyond saving, caked with the same algae and mud that Fraser’s serge was.
“Tay…”
Tayla hauled him into a hug before he could get another word out.
He froze, hands held out to the side, as if that saved her from his soaked clothing and shot Fraser a wide eyed look over her shoulder.
“She’s already hugged me as well,” he chuckled.
Ray rolled his eyes and grinned, finally giving Tayla a pat on the back.
“Are you alright?” she snapped, holding him away from her and inspecting him in the same way she had Benton.
“Well, I’m cold, I’m wet, I stink to high heaven and I just ruined a $300 suit… but yeah,” he grinned. “I’m alright.”
She rolled her eyes and held out her hand.
“Gimme your keys… I’ll go get you some dry clothes.”
Ray sidestepped her and went to his desk, grabbing his keys off the top and snapping the keyring off that held his house key.
“You want another uniform or just regular clothes?” she asked Fraser.
“Regular clothes are fine, thank you kindly.”
She kissed them both on the cheek before heading back out to the parking lot.
***
When she returned less than an hour later she was carrying a duffle bag full of clothes and had a messenger bag slung over her shoulder containing some hot, pressed sandwiches from the café down the street they often got lunch from.
Ray’s desk was vacant. Fraser’s Stetson, which had apparently escaped the plunge into the river, sat on top.
“They’re in the interrogation room with the creep.” Elaine offered.
Tayla smiled and nodded in acknowledgement, tugging the strap of the bag with the food up over her head and placing it on the desk next to Fraser’s hat.
“Those boys don’t realize how lucky they are,” Elaine grinned when Tayla turned to head towards the hallway.
Tayla grinned and winked.
***
Ray stopped short as he came out of the interrogation, caught off guard by Tayla leaning against the wall across from the door.
The duffle bag sat open at her feet and she just smirked and held out a stack of clothes piled on top of a fluffy towel.
Ray grinned, taking the handful from her and leaned in to kiss her on the cheek.
“You’re the best, thanks hun,” he said, heading down the hall towards where the station’s locker room and showers were.
Fraser was standing in the doorway waiting, soft smile on his face.
She grinned and bent down, retrieving his stack of clothes and a towel.
He glanced down each direction of the hallway, which was quieter than normal but not entirely empty, but decided he didn’t care if anyone was watching and leaned towards her, kissing her softly.
“Thank you,” he whispered against her lips, she just grinned and kissed him again.
***
By the time they both made it out of the showers, Tayla had the food spread out over Ray’s desk and had jammed a third chair in the tiny corner between his desk and the file cabinet where she was picking at her own sandwich.
Ray and Fraser looked at each other and grinned.
Fraser sat down in the chair next to Tayla, dropping his hand briefly onto her knee, where she had her foot propped up on the rung of his own chair and wordlessly thanked her for the meal with a soft squeeze.
Ray groaned around his bite of food, he had been starving for hours now after the disastrous chase.
“Careful Benny, I might steal her from you,” he grinned, winking at Tayla who rolled her eyes.
“Well technically Ray, she was yours first,” Fraser said simply before taking a bite of his own sandwich.
Ray swallowed whole, dropping his sandwich and hacking in surprise.
“You told him?!” he yelped, shooting a panicked look towards Tayla.
“What?” she asked sarcastically, “That I’ve slept with his best friend? Of course I told him.”
“That’s private business!”
“Yeah, my private business… which he is now privy to.”
“It’s quite alright Ray, that was years before I knew either of you.”
“Oh lord this is so awkward,” he groaned.
“Relax,” Tayla laughed. “I told him we were just friends, it’s not like we had been in a serious relationship.”
“Really Ray, it doesn’t bother me. If nothing else I’m somewhat grateful to know you two shared a trusting, solid friendship.”
Ray just looked at him like he lost his mind.
“A friendship that included sex,” Tayla mumbled, grinning when Ray shot her a look.
“What?! We were friends Ray, we were close, I trusted you, I felt safe, better than me sleeping with half the football team.”
“My sentiments precisely,” Fraser answered, shuffling some papers on the desk around.
“I have the weirdest friends in the world.”
Tayla stuck her tongue out.
“And what on earth are you doing?”
Fraser looked up at him and blinked.
“Filling out our report,” he said, pen poised above the paper in one hand and his sandwich in his other.
“Can’t you just enjoy your food?”
“Well I am Ray, but it’s efficient to get a start on the paperwork as well.”
Ray rolled his eyes and returned to his own meal.
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