“We go now. Come on Sweet Pea let’s get you into the truck.” Opening the door, Raelin followed the little girl outside after locking the doors and setting the wards. Getting the little blonde situated, they were soon on their way to the Foundation.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Delaney walked into her department with purpose. She spotted both Douglas and Michaels settling into their desks and gave them each a smile. “Hey guys, do you know if Carmen is in her lab yet? I have some things I need printed,” she held up the two baggies. “You guys wouldn’t know anything about this would you? The note was pegged to my door last night with the knife when I got home after the brawl at Ivan’s.”
The two men looked at each other, puzzled. “No Boss, how would we know anything about it? Neither one of us heard anything about it till now,” Michaels spoke up.
Douglas piped up, “Carmen came in about an hour ago so she’s in her lab.”
“Not to worry guys, I wasn’t accusing, just asking. I was hoping maybe you’d gotten a tidbit out of the guys we hauled in last night after I’d left. You guys can let them out now by the way, I would imagine they’ve dried up by now.” Del smiled, heading towards the back stairs.
She went down a floor to the lab in the basement, and knocked on the door to the small forensics lab, stepping in when she was given the okay. “Morning Carmen, I got some things for you. That should get the dust and cobwebs out of your equipment,” she chuckled, knowing the poor doctor didn’t actually get much work.
She watched as the doctor approached from around a supply shelf, her dark eyes immediately snapping to the baggies. Del watched as Carmen’s long legs carried her across the room to get the evidence. She wasn’t overly tall, but still towered over Delaney as most people did. The blonde looked up into Carmen’s smiling face, her bronze skin accented by the harsh lighting of the lab. Sometimes Del wondered how a woman with looks like hers ever ended up in a dark lab in the basement of Leroy.
“Ah, something to play with...where is it from?” the Latina asked as she took the items from the Chief.
“My back door. I came home from the brawl last night and the knife had been holding the note up,” Del said following the woman across to her work counter. “I was hoping you might be able to lift some prints from it,” she explained leaning against the counter.
Gloving her hands, the Doctor pulled out the items and started her work carefully dusting and printing each one, but coming up empty. “Sorry there Chief. Whoever handled these wore gloves, and left nothing at all. Have you started making enemies already?”
“Must have. Kind of comes with the badge to be honest.” Delaney sighed. “To be honest it’s hard to say if this is even directed at me.”
Looking up, Carmen saw the worry on the blonde’s face. “You think that this has something to do with your wife? Raelin, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. She runs the bookstore a few buildings down. Her father left her his shares to the casino he owned and they wanted to buy them off her. She said no and I guess they weren’t happy about it. Honestly, I don’t know if it’s them. I pissed off a fake reporter the other day. Oh, and the Audi sales guy I had a spat with.” Del groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose.
Chuckling, Carmen started writing up her report. “Popular person aren’t you? Sorry I can’t help you with this, but for all it’s worth, keep up the good work.”
“Well, thanks anyway. And for what it’s worth, I’m working on getting you a real lab upstairs.” Del chuckled back, stopping at the door.
“Be still my heart. You’re welcome.” The Doctor waved at the Chief as she left before turning back to the knife. “I think that I’m going to take you apart. There has to be some epidurals somewhere on you.”
Del stopped into her office long enough lock up her desk and files before she headed out to the bullpen and found Kasey sitting at her desk. “Morning Kasey. I’m heading up to meet Raelin at the foundation for a bit. Mind holding down the fort?” she asked.
Kasey leaned back in her chair with her hands behind her head. “Yup Boss, I’m good. Will hold the fort and anything else that might show up at the front door. You go do what you gotta do.”
Del gave her an odd look but shook her head and chalked it up to Kasey’s inner ramble. “Okay, well call me if you need anything,” she said heading towards her Jeep.
“Okie dokie smokie...see ya later.” The former agent was having a hard time keeping the grin off her face as she waited for the blonde to leave the building so she could tell co-workers what was going to happen.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Del walked in the front door of the Foundation and smiled at the little boy who nearly plowed her over as he ran by. Seeing an advisor following him, she got his attention. “Hey, is Raelin around?” she asked with a smile.
“Yes ma’am, she’s in her office,” the young man answered with a smile. The Chief was always so polite whenever she came around. “And I believe that your niece is in the art room with Miss Jenny.”
“Thanks. I’ll head on up.” Del headed up to her wife’s office, knowing Ariel was in good hands for a few minutes longer with Jenny. Smiling, she knocked on the door, and poked her head in. “Hope I’m not interrupting anything,” she said with a smile.
Putting down the pen that she was using to write some notes Raelin looked up at her wife and then over to the clock. “Wow! I didn’t know it was that late in the morning already,” she rubbed her eyes. “Been reading the journal to try and get a handle on Ariel abilities. I’ve found some information but I think that I’ll find more at the Nook.”
“Oh?” Del murmured walking slowly into the office the door swinging closed behind her. “And what exactly have you found?”
Turning the journal around so that the blonde could see, Raelin pointed to a passage. “It says here that if the receiver can pick up emotions along with thoughts that they will have a harder time blocking. Ariel and I will have to spend a lot of time working on building a mental wall.”
“Well, at least you have an eager student. You look some kind of good behind this big ole desk you know.” Del grinned standing on the other side of the desk from Raelin, leaning over it her weight on both hands.
“That door is not locked, and this is so not the place to do what we are both thinking...even if we both want it really badly.” Raelin couldn’t help but lean forward and let her finger caress her wife’s cheek.
“Oh I know.” Del smiled, nipping at the fingertips that were now tracing her lips. “You think a simple hello kiss is out of the question?”
“I think a kiss between us is never simple, but I’m willing to try if you are.” Raelin leaned forward, but stopped inches away from her wife’s lips.
“True, but you never know until you try,” Del whispered, closing the distance between them and giving her wife a slow gentle kiss doing her best to keep it under control.
Flicking one of her wrists, Raelin moaned as the door locked and she deepened the kiss, fisting her hands in Delaney’s shirt.
“Oh God,” Del groaned and pulled her head back, placing her fingers over Raelin’s full lips. “Yeah okay, so we aren’t good at keeping things simple. We really need to stop before I do unspeakable things to you.”
“I did find a soundproofing spell that we could try out, and you know that I love it when you do unspeakable things to me.” The witch wiggled her eyebrows and grinned.
“Maybe we can put it to good use tonight, because honestly, you’re killing me here.” Del chuckled in a low tone. Leaning back in for another quick kiss before pulling away and taking a seat in the chair in front of Raelin’s desk, clearing her throat. “So anyway, I hear Ariel is in the art room with Jenny.”
Clearing her own throat, Raelin leaned back. “Yeah, Jenny comes a couple days a week to teach piano or drawing, and from what I understand, Ariel is quite the artist. In fact, the picture she was working on this morning at the house was a party celebrating your upcoming birth. She said that she dreame
d that you were pregnant.”
Del sputtered choking over her own words for a moment. “I was what? Raelin, we both know that it’s not something that’s going to happen any time soon. Not unless you got something you need to tell me.”
“Darlin’, I’m good, but I ain’t that good.” Raelin chuckled. “As much as I want to be. She does dream of the future, but this is much further in the future than she has dreamed before or at least that we know of.”
“I would say. I mean, I know we’ve talked about it but not in concrete terms or anything. Maybe this is just something she wants. A little one for her to play with or something,” Del said a little flustered.
Standing up, Raelin walked around the desk to sit in her wife’s lap. “It’s a possible future, Babe. We will make that decision when the time is right, not before.”
“I mean, I want that. I do, someday. Just not right now. We have too much going on and honestly, I’d like to try and get through Ariel’s stay first.” She chuckled wrapping her arms around Raelin’s waist. “I’ve watched her before, but never for more than a night.”
“Yes, this is going to be a learning experience all around, and I guess that we had better go check on her.” She leaned down to lightly brush her lips against her wife before getting up and straightening her clothes.
Del rose to follow her wife to the art room and paused at the door to watch Ariel as she worked with some finger paints. “She looks so happy,” she whispered to Raelin as the little girl interacted with the other children around her.
“She is, and the older kids just love her. She’s really smart and very polite.” Raelin smiled.
“That’s because her mother teaches her well.” Delaney smiled, stepping into the room. “Hey Ariel, I hear your quite an artist.”
Ariel turned at the sound of Delaney’s voice and giggled as she ran over wrapping herself around Delaney’s leg before the older blonde had a chance to stop her. Wincing, Delaney knew her pants were coated in bright red paint.
“Aunt Delly, I been drawing with Jenny and Kai and the others and they been really nice and it’s lots of fun.” She giggled.
Raelin reached out and carefully pulled Ariel away from Delaney’s pants. Smiling up at her wife, she reassured her. “It’s washable.”
“Oh, I know. I’ll just change into the spare set I keep at the station.” Delaney chuckled. “Was there anyone here who wanted to see me? Or anything you need me to do specifically?”
“I had thought that Kai was going to talk with you about her possibly working with your sketch artist to see what it’s like, but maybe I was wrong.” The brunette looked to the young woman across the room.
“Oh, I could probably arrange that. Our artist kind of doubles as our forensics expert. Carmen is a pretty laid-back lady. I’m sure she’d be cool with it.” Del smiled.
Calling out to Kai, Raelin motioned her over. “Hey, I thought that you wanted to talk with Delaney.”
“Yeah, actually, I was just wondering if you guys had a big enough department to have an in house sketch artist. I was thinking about maybe doing something like that once I’m finished with school. Jenny had mentioned it to me,” the young woman asked, ruffling Ariel’s hair as the toddler ran by to go back to her painting. “That little one is going to take the world by storm no matter what profession she goes into,” she chuckled.
“Well, you’re in luck. Our forensics expert also does our sketching for us. Dr. Carmen Sanchez is her name. I can talk to her when I go back to the department in a bit and see if she’d be willing to let you shadow her. She’s a pretty easy going lady.” Delaney smiled at the younger Spaulding
“That would be great if you could. I haven’t been to the department yet.” Kai admitted. “Would really like to see where my big sister works.”
“It’s nothing that exciting, trust me. Just some desks and filing cabinets.” Del chuckled. “How you been making out anyways? I hear you spend a lot of time with Jenny these days.”
Kai smiled and glanced over to her future sister-in-law as she worked with another student. “Yeah, she’s pretty cool and super easy to talk to. Kase is crazy about her; that is plain to see.”
“Ha yeah, your sister was pretty much sunk right from the beginning. Jenny was about the same.” Delaney laughed, remembering back on those first few days. She glanced at her watch briefly. “Damn, I need to get back soon. Is there anything else I can do for either of you?” She asked both Kai and Raelin.
Raelin shook her head, but turned to Kai. “Would you mind watching Ariel while I walk Delaney out?”
“Sure, she’s an angel.” Kai chuckled, moving to intercept Ariel’s paint covered fingers from making contact with the floor.
Delaney shook her head, and let Raelin lead her the long way through the halls. “Taking the scenic route are we?”
“Can’t I just want to spend more time with my beautiful wife?” Raelin let her finger’s brush Delaney’s thigh with each step.
“You can spend all the time with me you want. I’m not complaining,” Del answered, feeling heat spread with every touch of her wife’s fingers.
Finally reaching the front door, Raelin opened it and allowed the blonde to exit first, admiring the gentle sway of her hips as she passed. “Damn long week,” she muttered, as she allowed the frustration to go through their link.
Del sent her own frustration back as she got to the Jeep and turned to her wife. “This sucks,” she said with amusement. “I mean, we are grown adults. Surely, we can handle this, right? It’s just a week.”
“You would think...We’re going to head to the Nook pretty soon...Hey! We can have a date night maybe. We can ask Kai if she wouldn’t mind earning some extra money by babysitting.” Raelin’s eyes lit up.
“Ooh, and what did you have in mind?” she asked, fingering Raelin’s belt as she leaned against the side of the Jeep.
“I’m sure that we can take the car and come up with something. Maybe go to Canal City for dinner and a movie,” the witch suggested.
“You mean the car with the gigantic back seat? Because I’m not sure we’d make it as far as Canal City,” Del replied, wiggling her eyebrows.
“Probably not, but I’m sure that we could find someplace to cum,” Raelin whispered.
The shock of arousal that flooded Del’s body nearly overwhelmed her and she closed her eyes a minute to center herself. “Okay, I need to leave before I do terrible things to you. I’ll be at the station if you need me. Ask Kai about tonight,” she chuckled, hopping into the Jeep and poking her head out the open window. “I love you.”
“I love you too. Don’t forget, we’ll be at the Nook.” Raelin took a step and watched as she pulled out of the drive before fishing out her phone to call Kasey. “Hey...She’s on her way back right now.”
“Perfect, the guys who delivered the bike where nice enough to get it in here for us. They are hiding out in the basement so they can get it back out again.” Kasey chuckled over the phone. “You are going to be here too?”
“No, this is just for her. I don’t want her embarrassed. How does it look?”
“It’s sexy as all hell, Raelin,” Kasey breathed. “I mean, it’s great. The witch on it? Perfect. I’m going to assume there’s an inside joke of some sort there.”
“Yeah, there is...Would you mind recording it for me? I know it’s not a proper use of the department’s equipment, but what do you say?”
“One step ahead of you. I’ve already flirted the tech guy into moving the camera. You’ve got a perfect view of the cell in question.” Kasey chuckled. “Just don’t tell Jenny, the couch is bad for my back.”
“Kase, don’t do something like that. Tell him that I owe him dinner at the sushi place if he wants it, but thanks a lot.”
“I was kidding; I just buttered him up a bit. It’s okay, he told me he’d tell Jenny on me if I kept it up,” she laughed.
“Just tell him okay, I’ll call the manager and let him know to expect him. She shoul
d be getting there right about now so I’ll let you go. I’ll be at the Nook in a little while if you need me. Bye.” Raelin hung up and then called the restaurant to let them know. What Kasey didn’t know was that she owned the sushi place, and could do little things like this every once in a while. She had wanted to bring new business to Leroy, and had wanted a new restaurant, so this worked out to her advantage. Informing the manager, she then hung up and headed inside.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Del headed into the bullpen of her department seeing everyone working diligently at their desks. “Hey guys, everything go alright while I was gone?” she asked, heading to her office to change out of her paint covered pants.
“Yeah Boss, except...” Kasey let the statement hang.
Del paused and looked at her second in command. “Except what?” she asked picking off dry fleck of paint.
“That reporter Collins came back to town and started a ruckus at Ivan’s. He said that you started the fight last night to make the Department look good. That there actually wasn’t any out of towners. I went and put him in the holding cell so you can talk to him,” Kasey calmly stated.
“Damn it,” Del cursed running her hand over her face. “Okay well, I’m going to go change, and then have a chat with him. Maybe he knows something about the note that was knifed to our door.”
Kasey watched as her friend went into her office and closed her door before she turned to grin at her co-workers.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Having changed Del threw open her office door now in clean pants and looking more than a little irritated. “Okay, which cell did you throw him in?”
Standing up, Kasey looked bored as she walked towards the cells. “Number one...we hadn’t had the time to clean it up after the guys from last night, so I thought that it was appropriate.”
“More than he deserves, the damned weasel,” Del muttered as she rounded the corner and stopped short. “What the hell?” She asked when she spotted a brand new Harley Davidson Night Rod sitting in the middle of the cell.
Intuition Page 38
