Post by twingles2 on Aug 23, 2004 17:27:34 GMT -5
*** repost of Chapter 1 ***
She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not – Chapter 1
You’re the most beautiful woman in the world.
I’ll always love you – forever.
“Yeah ok pal,” Kate muttered, stuffing the red piece of paper back in its envelope and dropping it on her desk.
Sinking down in her chair, Kate gave a frustrated sigh at the stack of mail that she had to go through and the paperwork piled on her desk. No matter how hard she worked, the piles just never seemed to go away. She swore that they reproduced at night, or maybe it was because she was normally so glassy-eyed when she left that she just thought they were smaller, but whatever – they were always there to greet her in the morning.
“Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, Kate” she muttered out loud. “It wasn’t all that long ago that you were flipping burgers and serving, what can only loosely be called food, to good ole boys named Bubba.”<br>
“Talking to yourself Kate?” came the sarcastic voice from the door.
Kate’s head shot up and she growled, “Don’t you know how to knock?”<br>
“Sorry,” he said simply. “But the real question is, if I had knocked would you have let me in? Or would you have pretended that no one was home?”
“What do you think?” Kate shot back in a disgusted voice.
He came further in the room and stopped to lean a hip on her desk. “I think we need to talk about what happened the other night, Kate?”<br>
“The other night?” Kate asked feigning innocence. “Oh you mean in the elevator? Roman, nothing happened the other night, so just drop it.”<br>
“You don’t believe that any more than I do, lady. You felt something I know you did.”<br>
“Oh I felt something alright. Let’s see it was disgust, anger, boredom…need I go on?” she shot back quickly.
“You can lie to yourself all you want Kate, but you know as well as I do that you enjoyed yourself in that elevator.” Roman said easily, and with total confidence.
“Get over yourself Captain. You’re not the star quarterback and I most definitely am not the head cheerleader. This isn’t high school, Roman. We kissed in an elevator, it meant nothing, it proved nothing - so let it go.”<br>
“I can’t do that, Kate. I can’t do that and neither can you.” Roman stood up and came around the desk to face her. “Where is the woman that I held in my arms the other night, hmmm? Where is she Kate? Because you know what, I kinda liked that woman and I wouldn’t mind getting to know that woman. So where is she?”<br>
“That woman was a figment of your pathetic imagination, Roman!” Kate snapped. “She doesn’t exist so just go on your merry way and leave me alone.”<br>
Roman reached out and took a hold of her arms; he saw the quick flash of anger streak across her face and smiled inwardly, “What, are you scared?” he said knowing that it would get to her.
Kate pulled her arms away and tossed her hair back, “Scared?” she scoffed, “Of you? Oh please. Did we fly back into the dark ages and no one told me, Roman? What is this, are you a caveman? One kiss and I’m yours, so you’re going to grab me by the hair and drag me back to your cave? Or are you going to ask me to go steady now? Do I get to wear your class ring?” Kate said sarcastically but then paused, arched an eyebrow and looked at him. She could see his face tighten and knew that she had gotten to him.
“You know what, Lady?” Roman said pointing a finger at her. “If you would lay off the sarcasm and admit the truth, we might just have a good time together….”<br>
“Would that be between the sheets or outside in the real world?” Kate interrupted, “Because they would be having snowball fights in hell before I’d ever let you get that close to me.”<br>
“You really need to get over Yourself Kate. Because here’s a newsflash honey, when I decide to get you ‘between the sheets’ as you so eloquently put it, your going to be more than a willing partner.” Roman shot back angrily.
“More than a wil… when you decide?” Kate sputtered. “Get the hell out of my office, Roman before I call security and have you thrown out. I, unlike you obviously, have work to do,” she said slowly, in a carefully controlled voice.
“Work?” Roman sneered. “What this pile of junk?” he said, waving his hands over the mail and magazines on Kate’s desk. “Ohh, this one looks like it’s really really important.” He reached for the envelope with the red stationary and pulled the note out, “What kind of business contact sends you letters on red letterhead, Kate?”<br>
“Give me that!” she snarled and reached for the letter, but Roman moved faster and held it out of her grasp.
Knowing that it would only infuriate her more, he pulled the note out, shook it to unfold it and read the note. Instantly he sobered and looked at her seriously, “who sent you this, Kate?” he asked quietly.
“I have no idea. Obviously someone who has to get a life…. You know like yourself.”<br>
Roman ignored her comment and asked her again, “Kate I mean it, who sent you this?”<br>
“You need to join the Brotherhood, Roman, you really do!” she shot back.
“The Brotherhood?” Roman asked shaking his head in confusion.
“Yep, the Brotherhood Roman. The Brotherhood of it’s none of your d**n business!” Kate said, jammed her fists onto her hips and looked at him smiling in satisfaction.
“Yeah whatever. Kate look, people who send notes like this can be disturbed. Do you know who sent you this?” Roman asked concerned.
Kate threw her hands up in total exasperation finally realizing that he wasn’t going to back down on this, “What are you a dog with a bone? Listen to me, and I’ll speak really slowly so that you understand. I…don’t…know…who…sent…me….the….note.” Kate paused and seeing that she had succeeded in annoying him, continued on. “Nor do I particularly care. If I had a bird I’d use it to line the bottom of the cage, but since I don’t I’m going to round file it, just like I did with the others.”
Roman filtered out most of what she had said and tossed it in the ‘Kate’s a pregnant dog file,’ but his cop instincts went back on full alert when her last words hit him. He re-focused on her and shot her a hard look, narrowing his eyes when he saw her innocent expression.
“What?” she asked confused.
“There have been ‘others’? How many others Kate and did they all sound like this one?” He fired off quickly in a tension filled voice.
“Roman are you deaf? I don’t know how many others, and I guess they sounded like that one, but who cares. Whoever this guy is, he quite frankly has way to much time on his hands, and I don’t have the time to deal with it.”<br>
“So you’re just going to ignore these and what the possible implications are?” Roman asked incredulously.
“Implications? What implications?” Kate all but shouted, completely fed up with the conversation. “Roman, whoever this guy is, I’m quite sure he’s harmless. Why would I want to read anything into this that’s not there?”
Roman opened his mouth to fire out a come back when the intercom on Kate’s desk buzzed, “Aahh, the proverbial saved by the bell,” Kate muttered and smiled at Roman sweetly before depressing the button “Yes Joelle,”
“Ms. Roberts, the gentlemen from Saxon’s are here and the conference room is ready,” came Joelle’s voice over the loudspeaker.
“OK, Joelle. Thanks, I’ll be right there.” Kate took her finger off the button and gathered together the files that she needed for her meeting. She reached down for her briefcase and stuffed them in before looking back at Roman. “This has been such a grand time that I hate to cut it short. But I have a meeting to get too. Do you think that you could do me a favor?”
“What?” Roman asked suspiciously.
“Don’t be here when I get back and make sure you close the door behind you when you leave,” Kate said quickly and gave him a half smile, brushed by him and out the door.
Roman watched her go and looked down at the note in his hand re-reading the words. With a shake of his head, he walked to the door of her office and stepped out into the lobby making sure that the door was wide open. He paused at Joelle’s desk and asked her if she knew who had sent Kate the note.
“No Captain Brady, all of Ms. Roberts’ mail is sorted in the mail room and then brought up here to the office. I look through it quick and then put in on her desk. That was addressed to her personally and I would never open something like that.” Joelle said a bit nervously.
“It’s OK Joelle.” Roman reassured her quickly, “Could you do something for me though? The next time that Kate gets a note like this, could you call me?”
Joelle nodded instantly and Roman reached into his pocket for one of his cards, “here I put my cell and my home number on there. The number at the station is already there, so just call me. Oh, and make sure that you talk to me and no one else.”
Roman got on the elevator and watched at the doors shut. He hit the button for the parking garage and leaned back against the wall crossing his legs in front of him. As soon as the doors opened, he strode quickly to his car, slid into the seat and reached into the back for an empty file folder. Taking the pen out of his pocket, he uncapped it holding the cap in his mouth and scrawled on the folder tab, “Kate Roberts” in his bold script. Taking the note, he put in the folder and dropped it on the passenger seat before starting the engine and heading back to the station. He glanced once at the folder and couldn’t help but notice that Kate’s name on the tab was the same color as the notepaper, red --- blood red.
She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not – Chapter 1
You’re the most beautiful woman in the world.
I’ll always love you – forever.
“Yeah ok pal,” Kate muttered, stuffing the red piece of paper back in its envelope and dropping it on her desk.
Sinking down in her chair, Kate gave a frustrated sigh at the stack of mail that she had to go through and the paperwork piled on her desk. No matter how hard she worked, the piles just never seemed to go away. She swore that they reproduced at night, or maybe it was because she was normally so glassy-eyed when she left that she just thought they were smaller, but whatever – they were always there to greet her in the morning.
“Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, Kate” she muttered out loud. “It wasn’t all that long ago that you were flipping burgers and serving, what can only loosely be called food, to good ole boys named Bubba.”<br>
“Talking to yourself Kate?” came the sarcastic voice from the door.
Kate’s head shot up and she growled, “Don’t you know how to knock?”<br>
“Sorry,” he said simply. “But the real question is, if I had knocked would you have let me in? Or would you have pretended that no one was home?”
“What do you think?” Kate shot back in a disgusted voice.
He came further in the room and stopped to lean a hip on her desk. “I think we need to talk about what happened the other night, Kate?”<br>
“The other night?” Kate asked feigning innocence. “Oh you mean in the elevator? Roman, nothing happened the other night, so just drop it.”<br>
“You don’t believe that any more than I do, lady. You felt something I know you did.”<br>
“Oh I felt something alright. Let’s see it was disgust, anger, boredom…need I go on?” she shot back quickly.
“You can lie to yourself all you want Kate, but you know as well as I do that you enjoyed yourself in that elevator.” Roman said easily, and with total confidence.
“Get over yourself Captain. You’re not the star quarterback and I most definitely am not the head cheerleader. This isn’t high school, Roman. We kissed in an elevator, it meant nothing, it proved nothing - so let it go.”<br>
“I can’t do that, Kate. I can’t do that and neither can you.” Roman stood up and came around the desk to face her. “Where is the woman that I held in my arms the other night, hmmm? Where is she Kate? Because you know what, I kinda liked that woman and I wouldn’t mind getting to know that woman. So where is she?”<br>
“That woman was a figment of your pathetic imagination, Roman!” Kate snapped. “She doesn’t exist so just go on your merry way and leave me alone.”<br>
Roman reached out and took a hold of her arms; he saw the quick flash of anger streak across her face and smiled inwardly, “What, are you scared?” he said knowing that it would get to her.
Kate pulled her arms away and tossed her hair back, “Scared?” she scoffed, “Of you? Oh please. Did we fly back into the dark ages and no one told me, Roman? What is this, are you a caveman? One kiss and I’m yours, so you’re going to grab me by the hair and drag me back to your cave? Or are you going to ask me to go steady now? Do I get to wear your class ring?” Kate said sarcastically but then paused, arched an eyebrow and looked at him. She could see his face tighten and knew that she had gotten to him.
“You know what, Lady?” Roman said pointing a finger at her. “If you would lay off the sarcasm and admit the truth, we might just have a good time together….”<br>
“Would that be between the sheets or outside in the real world?” Kate interrupted, “Because they would be having snowball fights in hell before I’d ever let you get that close to me.”<br>
“You really need to get over Yourself Kate. Because here’s a newsflash honey, when I decide to get you ‘between the sheets’ as you so eloquently put it, your going to be more than a willing partner.” Roman shot back angrily.
“More than a wil… when you decide?” Kate sputtered. “Get the hell out of my office, Roman before I call security and have you thrown out. I, unlike you obviously, have work to do,” she said slowly, in a carefully controlled voice.
“Work?” Roman sneered. “What this pile of junk?” he said, waving his hands over the mail and magazines on Kate’s desk. “Ohh, this one looks like it’s really really important.” He reached for the envelope with the red stationary and pulled the note out, “What kind of business contact sends you letters on red letterhead, Kate?”<br>
“Give me that!” she snarled and reached for the letter, but Roman moved faster and held it out of her grasp.
Knowing that it would only infuriate her more, he pulled the note out, shook it to unfold it and read the note. Instantly he sobered and looked at her seriously, “who sent you this, Kate?” he asked quietly.
“I have no idea. Obviously someone who has to get a life…. You know like yourself.”<br>
Roman ignored her comment and asked her again, “Kate I mean it, who sent you this?”<br>
“You need to join the Brotherhood, Roman, you really do!” she shot back.
“The Brotherhood?” Roman asked shaking his head in confusion.
“Yep, the Brotherhood Roman. The Brotherhood of it’s none of your d**n business!” Kate said, jammed her fists onto her hips and looked at him smiling in satisfaction.
“Yeah whatever. Kate look, people who send notes like this can be disturbed. Do you know who sent you this?” Roman asked concerned.
Kate threw her hands up in total exasperation finally realizing that he wasn’t going to back down on this, “What are you a dog with a bone? Listen to me, and I’ll speak really slowly so that you understand. I…don’t…know…who…sent…me….the….note.” Kate paused and seeing that she had succeeded in annoying him, continued on. “Nor do I particularly care. If I had a bird I’d use it to line the bottom of the cage, but since I don’t I’m going to round file it, just like I did with the others.”
Roman filtered out most of what she had said and tossed it in the ‘Kate’s a pregnant dog file,’ but his cop instincts went back on full alert when her last words hit him. He re-focused on her and shot her a hard look, narrowing his eyes when he saw her innocent expression.
“What?” she asked confused.
“There have been ‘others’? How many others Kate and did they all sound like this one?” He fired off quickly in a tension filled voice.
“Roman are you deaf? I don’t know how many others, and I guess they sounded like that one, but who cares. Whoever this guy is, he quite frankly has way to much time on his hands, and I don’t have the time to deal with it.”<br>
“So you’re just going to ignore these and what the possible implications are?” Roman asked incredulously.
“Implications? What implications?” Kate all but shouted, completely fed up with the conversation. “Roman, whoever this guy is, I’m quite sure he’s harmless. Why would I want to read anything into this that’s not there?”
Roman opened his mouth to fire out a come back when the intercom on Kate’s desk buzzed, “Aahh, the proverbial saved by the bell,” Kate muttered and smiled at Roman sweetly before depressing the button “Yes Joelle,”
“Ms. Roberts, the gentlemen from Saxon’s are here and the conference room is ready,” came Joelle’s voice over the loudspeaker.
“OK, Joelle. Thanks, I’ll be right there.” Kate took her finger off the button and gathered together the files that she needed for her meeting. She reached down for her briefcase and stuffed them in before looking back at Roman. “This has been such a grand time that I hate to cut it short. But I have a meeting to get too. Do you think that you could do me a favor?”
“What?” Roman asked suspiciously.
“Don’t be here when I get back and make sure you close the door behind you when you leave,” Kate said quickly and gave him a half smile, brushed by him and out the door.
Roman watched her go and looked down at the note in his hand re-reading the words. With a shake of his head, he walked to the door of her office and stepped out into the lobby making sure that the door was wide open. He paused at Joelle’s desk and asked her if she knew who had sent Kate the note.
“No Captain Brady, all of Ms. Roberts’ mail is sorted in the mail room and then brought up here to the office. I look through it quick and then put in on her desk. That was addressed to her personally and I would never open something like that.” Joelle said a bit nervously.
“It’s OK Joelle.” Roman reassured her quickly, “Could you do something for me though? The next time that Kate gets a note like this, could you call me?”
Joelle nodded instantly and Roman reached into his pocket for one of his cards, “here I put my cell and my home number on there. The number at the station is already there, so just call me. Oh, and make sure that you talk to me and no one else.”
Roman got on the elevator and watched at the doors shut. He hit the button for the parking garage and leaned back against the wall crossing his legs in front of him. As soon as the doors opened, he strode quickly to his car, slid into the seat and reached into the back for an empty file folder. Taking the pen out of his pocket, he uncapped it holding the cap in his mouth and scrawled on the folder tab, “Kate Roberts” in his bold script. Taking the note, he put in the folder and dropped it on the passenger seat before starting the engine and heading back to the station. He glanced once at the folder and couldn’t help but notice that Kate’s name on the tab was the same color as the notepaper, red --- blood red.
