Page 65 of Feel It All

“Yeah, yeah. Now go on and get ready for work. I’ll talk to you later.” He waves as he walks out the door.

I get ready for my shift and head over to the station. Owen meets me at our usual spot, and we get the night started. We have a couple of tickets, a call or two. Around 9 or so, my phone buzzes and I pick it up hoping it’s Winry, but “Chief” flashes back at me.

“Hold on, Chief is calling me,” I tell Owen then pick up. “Hello, sir.”

“Hey, are you and Owen in the middle of anything right now?” He asks, his tone neutral like always.

“Not at the moment, what can we do for you?” I ask.

“Meet me back at the station,” he orders. “I want to talk to you both about the Flynn court date.”

“Yes, sir. We should be there in about five minutes.” I motion for Owen to turn around and mouth station to him.

“10-4,” he replies then hangs up.

“He wants to talk to us about the Flynn situation.” I tuck my phone back in my pocket.

“Fine with me. How did the rest of the weekend go by the way?” Owen turns the car around to head back to the station.

“It all went to shit Sunday at brunch with my mom…and Claire.” I let out a sigh. “My mom practically set me and Claire up on a date right in front of Winry.”

“Oh, that’s rough. I bet Win was crushed.”

“She was. I was pissed, but Win and I are still good, and that’s all the matters to me.” I shuffle in my seat, already irritated at the thought of yesterday’s events.

“Well good, I’d hate to ride about with your mopey ass if she ever dumped you,” he pushes me with one arm.

“Not happening, now quit pushing me and focus on the road.”

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t get your panties in a twist,” Owen waves me off.

We meet chief in his office, and he motions for us to take a seat. “So, Winry told me you guys have had a few run-ins with Flynn before and I want to make sure we get all of our ducks in a row for this. I think we can all agree we want Winry involved as little as possible.” He looks at me at the last part.

“Yes, sir,” I agree.

“Okay, so walk me through what happened,” he gives us his full attention.

I start with the first night, how I noticed them arguing in the parking lot at Bluebird’s. He dissects every piece, and we move on to the night he broke in. That part was torture, just talking about it made me pissed all over again. I hate talking about this guy, and I hate that he is putting Winry through this. Then we talk about the run-in we had at Bluebird’s. Owen tells Chief how Flynn was baiting me about Winry the whole time.

“And you didn’t arrest him that night either?” Chief raises an eyebrow.

“No, it was my call,” Owen says. “I wanted to give him an opportunity to go somewhere else.”

“I don’t know if that will work for us or against us. On one hand it shows that you two aren’t out to get him, like he claims. But it could go in his favor that he isn’t extreme enough to do what he did to Winry,” he crosses his arms and leans back in his chair. “Dispatch has the call from the bartender recorded. I’ll get a copy and maybe she mentions him being aggressive or something in the bar.”

“I hate that he is bringing her back into this,” I grumble.

“I do too, and he knows she is an easy way to get under your skin, Taylor. So, no matter how much he pushes, do not push back. In or out of uniform, I don’t care, don’t let him get to you. Same goes for you, Owen. I want this court date to be smooth sailing,” Chief orders.

“Yes, sir,” Owen and I respond in unison.

“Good, now you guys are good to go back out,” Chief taps on his desk and stands up.

Owen and I push to our feet and turn toward the door. “Actually, Graham, I need to talk to you for a second,” Chief says as we were about to walk out.

“Good luck, buddy, I’ll be in the car,” Owen claps me on the back and walks out.

Chief rounds his desk to the front and leans back on it, crossing his arms. “I just wanted to thank you for taking Winry out for her birthday. She seemed so happy tonight at dinner and I believe it has a lot to do with you two together.”

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