Downstairs Offices - Homicide Division

[Flynn]

Contiuned from: Station Parking Lot

As soon as Flynn as walked into Homicide he saw the problem. Someone had decided to attempt making their own repairs and there was a computer in several different pieces strewn around on particular desk. He gave a heavy sigh and ran a hand through his hair. He had always been a patient person, but even he had his limits and this was definitely pushing them. Moving over to the desk, he waited until he was noticed.

"Oh, thank God. I thought I was going to have to page you again. Where've you been?"

"Lunch," Flynn replied, blue eyes surveying the mess. "Relocate for the day and I'll get this dealt with."

"Great. I don't know what's wrong with it."

"I'll figure it out." He had had to stop himself from replying, 'Well, the fact that it's in pieces is the first thing that comes to mind.'

A nod was given and the desk was vacated, leaving Flynn wondering exactly what he had done to deserve this.

[Flynn]

Hour and a half later

Flynn gave a sigh as the computer passed its test. After dealing with attempting to put the thing back together and numerous interruptions by people stopping to comment as if they knew his job better than he did, he was finally done. Standing, he stretched and checked his watch. It still wasn't time for him to head out and it seemed as if he had been there forever. With a shake of his head, he decided to get something to drink and hope that he could finish off a soda without another situation coming up.

Continued at: The Break Room

[Marcus]

“Dammit!”

Marcus Rivera looked up from his paperwork, and blinked at the sight across from him. “You didn’t… seriously… do it again, did you?” He set down the pencil he’d been using to make notes with, and allowed his mind to boggle over the situation. It was a wonder to him, sometimes, how his partner had gotten this far. The detective, roughly the same age as Marcus himself, was, in his own right, a brilliant man, and a great cop; he was a crack shot, a pretty awesome tactician, and often knew just what to say to spark a confession or helpful comment from whoever they were questioning.

But sometimes… the man was just a big, flaming dumbass.

“Dammit. Y-yeah, I did.”

“Jesus.” Despite himself, Marcus was smiling, sitting back in his chair as if to enjoy the view. “How do you even manage that?” It was something of a puzzle how Matthew Wiles could set up all the paper, grab the stapler and put it in place, and put so much pressure on it without noticing a problem. “How many ties do you go through, anyway? They all look the same.” He grabbed his thermal mug from the desktop, and held it halfway up to his mouth, as if only contemplating drinking from it.

“Shuddup,” Wiles grumbled, picking at the staple to remove it from his tie, and subsequently, the papers the cloth was now pinned to. “Just… shuddup…”

Marcus grinned, and lifted his mug. “World’s best argument…”

[Katherine]

Continued from Station Parking Lot

Her partner had long gone home, they had both been told to stick to their shift and hit the paper work hard in the morning when they came back in, since the case had been short but intense. So, Kathy was not too worried about bumping into James and getting in trouble for not taking their bosses advice... again. If she could avoid the Chief too then that was perfect.

She took the stairs over the elevator and found the Homicide Division quiet, or what passed for quiet in Los Angeles. She spotted Marcus sitting at his desk, back towards her and his partner opposite him. She hoisted the bag in her arms and started from the doorway towards the occupied desks, upon approaching she spotted Wiles' tie situation and shook her head,

"Another one bites the dust, huh Wiles?"

[Marcus]

“Huh? Oh, hey.” Wiles was still working on prizing the staple out without ripping the tie itself, which was no end of amusing for Marcus, but when he heard his sister’s voice, he leaned back in his chair, and twisted his head to look at her, before deciding that turning his chair was probably a better idea, meaning he could avoid falling out of it. Because really, he could live without that kind of embarrassment. He would leave that kind of thing to his partner.

“Hey, Sis’.” He smirked, and saw the bag in her hand. “Do I smell Chinese food?” He was, on that note, glad the offices were quiet. No, crime didn’t stop when the sun went down, but most of the people working that night were out on the streets. He and Wiles were simply working through a folder for one particular case that was kicking their asses. If the office had been busier, they might have swarmed at the smell, for the promise of something hot to eat.

[Katherine]

"Hey," Kath said, both to Wiles and her brother as the former went back to working the staple out of his tie. She looked down at the bag in her arms at the mention of food and nodded as steam forced its way out of the unsealed opening of the bag as she set it down on the corner of his desk. With the lack of on duty cops in the Homicide Division she didn't have to protect the bag of fast food from any other hungry officers who might try to yoink some of the foodstuffs.

"Keen observations skills as always," she said, taking the boxes out of the bag, "I was just passing through. How's the casework?"

[Marcus]

Many a time, Kath had brought him food — which he always shared with his partner, if only with mocking reluctance which was never sincere — and they’d had to defend their haul one way or another. One time, Wiles had started throwing scrunched-up post-its at people so Marcus could sneak off with the goods to hide them away. Good times.

“You were just passing through with more food than you can eat. Right.” He nodded, his hair bouncing slightly on his temples, and he flashed his sister a grin. He knew what she was doing, but wasn’t in the mood to call her on it. It was only harmless, even if it could be a bit ‘annoying’ at times, the way she always checked up on him, in one way or another. But such was the life of siblings; one was always older, making them ‘the protector’. He understood how it all worked. And the fact that they were both cops didn’t help, either.

“And it’s kickin’ our asses.” He shrugged under his shirt. He had removed his jacket when he’d realised he and Wiles would be stuck with the paperwork for a while, seeing no point in keeping it on while they were at their desks. “As always.”

[Katherine]

There it was. She was caught, but thankfully he didn't seem to want to pursue the fact that she was checking up on him and Katherine was thankful for that. They both knew well enough that even if he had gotten annoyed at her there and then the chances of her ceasing such behaviour were zero. At least she brought food. She simply broke into a smile at her younger brother's grin and landed a light-hearted punch to the shoulder closest to her as she moved to the end of his desk.

Kath started unpacking the boxes and stacking them in any free space she could find, "I'm sure you guys'll manage, as always." She responded. Paper work was probably agreed as one of the ultimate lows of the job. There was always more coming through the inbox than vacating the outbox, but at least it was the same for everyone. She leaned over the edge of the desk to see the page Marcus was working on and squinted at it, recognising the case and nodding to herself, as if filing it away in her brain.

"I got the usual. Can you tear yourself away?" She asked as she returned to the bag and pulled out the remaining items; chopsticks still fused together, spring rolls and the rich viscous sauce she liked to dunk hers in along with some fortune cookies.

[Marcus]

It all depended on the day as to whether or not Marcus called his sister on her overprotective tendencies. He remembered all the times over the years when she’d pushed the boundaries, and it had led to one bickering fight or another, which of course ended in the most ridiculous of ways, as one of them decided they didn’t have the energy for a ‘battle’ and tried to move it along; a roughly asked ‘do you want a soda?’ or something along those lines. Anything to end it before it could get any more meaningless and unnecessary.

“Ow,” he complained blandly as she landed the light punch, and he smirked again, rocking his chair back and forth a little, trusting the seat not to tip him out. Wiles knew better than to mess with his chair, and so did every other member of the department. Marcus was one of the tallest people in Homicide, if not the tallest, and it allowed him a certain degree of intimidation upon his fellow officers, even if he was sometimes too soft for his own good, and pretty much everyone’s friend in one way or another.

“I think, for Chinese food, I can always tear myself away from whatever I’m doing,” he told her, cocking his head and sitting forward. “We’ll be here all night anyway, and if Wiles can get his tie off the desk…” He grinned as his partner tossed a stress-ball at him; the irony tickled Marcus, and he laughed, catching it in one hand. “Just take the damn thing off so you can eat without choking yourself.”

[Katherine]

Kath watched Wiles for a few moments more as he fumbled with large clumsy fingers and then the nib of a pen to get the staple out of the end of his tie. When she couldn't take the pathetic scene any longer she set down the box she was holding suddenly, with a roll of her eyes, and picked up a pair of scissors, reaching across Marcus' desk for them. Then she walked around to Wiles' desk and grabbed his tie, slicing the scissors through it with a flick of her wrist. The tie crumpled to the desk with the paper it was attached to and she shrugged at her brother's partner's open mouth.

"It was a horrible tie and watching you struggling to save it like a fat guy with his last twinkie was too pathetic," she tossed him the spring rolls and returned the scissors to Marcus' desk calmly.

[Marcus]

As Wiles’ poor, severed tie crumpled to the desk, Marcus reacted naturally.

He laughed.

He couldn’t help himself. His jaw dropped open, and the sound tumbled out of his mouth as if he was ten years old all over again, and this had just been a game for his amusement. Wiles looked stupefied, blinking in surprise for a moment, looking from one Rivera to the other, as if it were all some big conspiracy. Marcus imagined it was how he would look if somewhere were to slap him in the face with a fish, and the thought only amused him more. He almost snorted, but managed to hold it back, shaking his head as he looked at his nonchalant sister.

“You’re such a bully, y’know that?” He grinned as he snagged a set of chopsticks, toying with the end of the thin paper wrapper.

[Katherine]

Kath nodded, she had not laughed along with her brother but offered Wiles something that passed as a sympathetic smile and an apathetic shrug instead. She glanced at Marcus, "I do," She responded plainly, "But that was the highlight of my day, so my guilt only stretches so far," she picked up a pair of chopsticks and tossed them to Wiles who caught them, still looking sceptical.

Un-phased, she turned and yanked a chair from an unoccupied desk, wheeling it over to the where she had previously been standing and sat down with a cross between a huff and a sigh. She shrugged out of her jacket which she let crumple behind her as she too snatched up a pair of chopsticks and slipped the paper jacket off them. There was a small degree of satisfaction as she snapped the little twig like implements apart and then looked up, deciding what she wanted to eat.

[Marcus]

Marcus laughed again, his blue eyes alight with amusement as his sister admitted to her mean streak. He looked to Wiles, who looked down at his very-dead tie, and then shrugged. Clearly, he was coming to the conclusion that the older Rivera was right; his tie was ugly, and better off as it was now… in pieces, and very dead. Claiming that he was going to refill his coffee, he shuffled off, mug in one hand as the other pulled the severed remains of necktie from around his collar.

With his partner gone, Marcus rocked forward in his desk chair again, hearing the slight squeak of protest at the suddenness and force, looking to his sister, the Chinese forgotten for a moment. The huff-cum-sigh had caught his attention, and he knew her better than anyone, and for good reason. “So you gonna tell me?” He didn’t need to say what he meant by that; just as he could read all of her mannerisms and body language, she could do the same in return, and better, he didn’t doubt. Not only was she older, but she was more adept than her brother at the subtler side of things, which not only made her a great sister, but a brilliant cop.

Something had happened since he’d talked to her on the phone. And he wanted to know what.

[Katherine]

Katherine shook her head with a subdued smile as Wiles shuffled his way in the direction of the break room to get some coffee, or so he said at least. She reached across the desk and picked up a box of Chow Mein which she started to unpack, seemingly unaware of her brother's eyes on her. Really she knew he was looking at her just as she knew her disruptive sound upon sinking into the chair had given her state of mind away to him, without realising at the time, or indeed until it was too late. Sometimes she hated having a brother who was so damned good at reading people and who knew her so well. But only sometimes.

She shrugged, "Nothing to tell." She said, unconvincingly looking at Marcus from across the top of the box and going for a bored expression. That didn't last long. She sighed, knowing instantly from his expression that she wasn't getting out of this so easily. She didn't want to bring up her soon-to-be-ex-husband particularly but now that he had asked, there was no escape. She set the box on her knee, now open, and stuck her chopsticks in it, looking down briefly and then back up again. "Okay, okay." She sighed heavily, "I ran into Greg at Long Wong's."

[Marcus]

Marcus wasn’t always as perceptive as his sister, but he certainly had his moments; they were hit and miss like any cop’s, but working in Homicide after a few years on the streets taught an officer to read body language, eyes and expression, and when you combined the three, nine times out of ten you could judge a state of mind, or whether or not an individual was lying right to your face. And in Homicide, Marcus sat across the table from a lot of liars; some more adept than others.

Katherine had to have known her ‘nothing to tell’ wouldn’t fly, and he simply sat there, unmoving and silent, waiting for her to come to the inevitable conclusion that if anyone was going to see through that weak lie, it was going to be him. Really, she should have known better, but the Riveras all had a stubborn streak a mile wide, and being the older of the two, his sister was perhaps worse when it came to abusing hers, and trying to pull the wool over the eyes of people who could see right through her.

At the mention of one Gregory Palmer, Marcus’ shoulders tensed. It was only a fraction of a shift, but it was there all the same. The guy just irritated him, in every way, from his analysing to his smug tone… everything about the man made the younger Rivera want to smack the knowing smile off his face. And the fact that he’d made Kath’s life difficult in any way didn’t exactly help his case either.

When he gathered his thoughts, he asked, “So what happened? Did he say anything to you?” Marcus wasn’t all that involved in the divorce proceedings, but Katherine told him enough for him to worry about it stressing her out, and he just wanted to make sure that Greg hadn’t added any more complications.