Fan Fiction |
by Jenny Tran
Devin knocked on the door to the new Commissioner’s office. Without calling or scheduling an appointment, he walked through the halls of the police department with an aura of importance “Come in.” the elder man called. He was looking over some papers and appeared to be stressed.
“Chung Sir.” Devin greeted respectfully.
“Devin.” The man smiled showing his wrinkled eyes “Have a seat. What do I owe the pleasure of your presence?”
Opening the manila folder, he took out the blue folder and tossed it on his desk “This.” He said flatly.
The man’s eyes turned up “I see Daniel got this to you.”
“Look, I know it was his idea to try to take over 50% of the P.R.A. He’s using personal feelings for this and I want—”
The Commissioner interrupted with a raised hand “Devin. I think you misunderstood. This was not Daniel’s idea. As you may know, we were short handed when Gary was murdered a few months back. I took over and have been trying to clean up the mess he left behind. Daniel was asked to come here and help us out. He told me briefly of your history. Now, I’m not going to meddle in your personal life, but merging operations can only mean better cooperation from both sides.”
“I disagree. This team started off under wraps. If it weren’t for the fact that we were pretty much forced to go public, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Plus, Joe formed this team on his own time and the P.R.A. stands on its own two feet.” Devin made a hard argument to beat.
The Commissioner smiled “Strange, Daniel said the same thing.” Devin turned away, unwilling to comment “As much as I want to agree with you…you must have noticed in the past few missions, things have gone terribly wrong. People are in constant danger and the police suddenly have lost their power. All you hear about is how great the P.R.A. is and how well the police clean up their mess.”
“How the tables have turned.” Devin arched a brow up.
“By merging, we are going to work better, closer and quicker. Of course P.R.A. headquarters will remain in the Federal building but I want to add in some features for the police department to connect without a phone call.” The Commissioner was not backing down from it.
Devin showed no emotion “We are in constant contact with Ted Kwong, Captain of the Investigation Department. There are no current problems.”
“Of course there aren’t.” The Commissioner laughed “Your team takes all the credit.”
“If that is the main problem, we will clean up the mess after.” Devin declared.
“Devin, I don’t want to give you a hard time but this contract is legal binding whether you sign it or not.” He slid the folder towards Devin “In order for you to coexist with us, we must come up with a compromise.”
“You mean a monopoly. If you want control, I’d rather break up the team than to turn this team Joe has worked so hard to form and to hand it over to Police with a silver platter. They might as well go through Police training and wear uniforms!” Devin stood up without taking the contract “I’m sorry Commissioner, I will not accept this contract and furthermore we will not be having this discussion again.” With that, he walked out without another word or waited for the man to make his argument.
*****************
Jessie was filing her own client files when she heard the door open “Hey, you’re back. I was wondering if you were gonna come see your girlfriend.” She laughed.
“Jessie, it’s me.” Erin smiled when the small doctor turned.
“Erin?” She laughed embarrassingly “Sorry, I thought you were Doug.”
“It’s too early for Doug.” She nodded to the clock.
Jessie nodded in agreement “True, he doesn’t wake up until noon. So, what’s up?”
“Doug wanted me to come and tell you that he’s safe.” Erin began slowly. She looked puzzled “He’s still in China. Apparently, he made an important discovery and had stayed back to do some research.” She masked the situation to perfection.
“I see.” Jessie nodded “As long as he’s safe…”
“He is.” Erin insisted, “He was worried that you would worry over him.”
“The silly guy.” She shook her head at the thought of him “Always thinking of me.”
“So I hear he’s quite fond of you.” Erin smiled.
Jessie grinned “How about yourself?”
“I’m doing fine.” Erin answered lightly.
“You’re a horrible liar.” She pointed to the chair “I can sense that hesitation in your voice and not to mention, you are a little distracted. Your eyes keep moving away. Something’s on your mind.” She read her with ease.
Erin lowered her head “I see Ethan left you some good notes.”
“No, he didn’t.” Jessie said solemnly “Women instincts. Are you having problems with Devin?”
“I’m not sure.” She sighed.
“Why?” Jessie questioned, “Is it because your relationship is not public?”
Erin shook her head “No, that has nothing to do with it. I don’t really care if they others know. But he’s been a bit…different. Like something’s constantly bothering him. I tried asking him when we were in China but he brushed it aside.”
“Classic case of a man going into his cave.” Jessie observed carefully. Erin tilted her head curiously as she explained “Men have a tendency to hide their unsolved problems, it is something they do when they feel like it is something they themselves should handle. When women pry, it will push them to enter a cave like mode. Where they stop talking and appear to be cold and distracted. But if you leave them alone to think out their problems, eventually he will emerge from the cave and be his normal loving self.”
“So you think he’s in this ‘cave’?” Erin asked.
“More or less.” Jessie smiled “Don’t worry, Devin will come around eventually, just give him some time and space.”
Erin laughed ironically “So much for that…we’re having dinner tonight.”
“Don’t pressure him to talk, he’ll do it on his own.” Jessie advised.
“I’ll try my best.” Erin thanked the young doctor and was on her way out. She took a cab to Chuck’s home. She knew he was due back that day from his honeymoon in Africa. Walking into the building, she punched the floor number in the elevator. She found his apartment door open and her uncle bending over to take out the things from his baggage. Creeping up behind him, she pointed a finger into his back as he straightened suddenly “Don’t move or I’ll shoot you.” She warned in a low tone.
“Look, just take what you want. Don’t hurt me.” Chuck was negotiable. Erin smiled as she pulled away her finger and he spun around to throw a punch at her as she blocked easily “Erin.” He sighed.
Suddenly, Eve came charging out with a bat but quickly lowered the weapon “Erin!” she gasped while clutching her heart “You scared me.”
She looked guilty “I’m sorry…I was just trying to scare Uncle Chuck. You can hear from the room?”
“We have the apartment installed with intercom. Just in case we get robbed, our code is ‘Take what you want.’ That way, we know what to do next.” Chuck explained while Erin tilted her head and stared at him strangely “I mean, you never know when you’ll be robbed and Hong Kong crime rate is rising and what are you staring at?”
She pointed to his face “You are tanned.” She noticed the sunglasses mark around his eyes.
Eve laughed with a nod “Just a tad. He laid out on the beach for hours, when I realized that he had fallen asleep, he had made himself a natural eye mask.” She pointed with a laugh.
“It’s not funny!” Chuck cried “You should have woken me up. I could have turned to crisp.”
“I think it’s too late for that.” Erin snickered with a short laugh “How was Africa?”
“It was great!” Eve answered as she pulled in a big luggage “Honey, you tell her about it.”
Chuck was way ahead of her as he began showing her the pictures in his digital camera “See, it’s not just a huge open zoo. They have cities and beaches and a lot of sight seeing stuff for people.”
Erin smiled at his excitement “Glad you opened your horizons to figure out that Africa isn’t just a ‘big zoo’.” She teased. Opening her palm up, she grinned, “Where’s my gift?”
“Gift? What gift?” Chuck asked innocently.
Her face fell “I’m your only niece and you didn’t bother to get me a gift?!”
“No, I was going to get you one but then I figured you can afford to buy a city in Africa, so whatever I got you would be insignificant.” He said haughtily.
Eve came out seconds later with a laugh “He’s teasing. Your gift is in that luggage.” She pointed to a huge black case.
Chuck turned sternly to his wife while Erin opened the suitcase and dug through the wrapped boxes “She was squirming and her lips were quivering, I wanted to see her cry!” he scolded his wife while she rolled her eyes away.
“Oh, it’s gorgeous.” Erin picked up the porcelain glass statue of a goddess dressed in tribal clothing “I love it.”
Eve smiled at him with crossed arms “Yeah…beginners luck.” he said without much feeling.
“What?” Erin looked from one person to the next.
“Your Uncle said you would hate that statue. But I said you would find it interesting.” Eve said wisely “I guess girls do know girls better.”
“But we’re talking about Uncle Chuck here. That was an easy win.” Erin pointed out.
Chuck laughed grimly “Funny, that’s great. You girls are going to gang up on me huh?”
“It wouldn’t be fun if we didn’t.” Eve added. Erin smiled as she cradled the statue carefully “Want to have dinner with us?”
“No, I have plans.” She smiled gratefully “But I’ll take a rain check.”
Chuck began folding the clothes on his lap “Plans huh? With whom? I heard from Mia that you and Devin are secretly dating. Is it true? Because if it is, I want to be the first to know.”
Erin laughed, “What if you’re not the first to know?”
“Then I’m taking that gift back.” He pointed “Eve, take it from her.”
She rolled her eyes with a laugh “I’m not getting into this.” She walked back into the room to continue unpacking.
Erin stepped around the luggage and took a seat next to him on the ground. She nudged him playfully “We are dating.”
“What?!” he exclaimed.
“SHH! You’re the first one I announced this to.” Erin smiled.
“Awww…I feel so special. I mean I have never—wait a minute…so does this mean everyone knows?” Chuck halted with a pointed finger.
Erin laughed “Everyone has their own theory but you’re the first that I have confirmed with.” She patted him on the head like a puppy “Because you’re my favorite Uncle.” Getting up, she placed the statue back into the box.
“I’m your only Uncle.” He said sarcastically.
“Hm…okay, if you say so.” Erin collected her bag and headed for the door “Thanks for the gift, I’ll see you in a couple of days.”
“Okay--Hey, wait how did you know?” Chuck was taking an office position at P.R.A. while Eve ran the restaurant. They concluded that it was not his cup of tea.
“Devin told me.” Erin popped back into the room.
“Oh right…you’re sleeping with the boss.” He snorted while waving her away “Is that how you get to the top?”
Erin frowned “I’ll let this one slide but don’t say that in front of Mia.”
“Roger that.” He returned to cleaning while she waved hastily.