Late-early Start
Who: Kess and Sam
Where: Nighthawk's diner
When: Mid-morning
Kess was tired, and she almost wished that she was hung over. When she'd woken up that morning, she felt like she smelt like she should be hung over. She hadn't finished working at Babylon until the early hours of the morning - the O'Malleys had seen to that. They'd had one of their 'special' nights last night, entertaining their friends or business acquaintances (Kess didn't know which, and she didn't want to know either) with an open house. It hadn't been a particularly pleasant experience for any of the staff there, since all the punters were 'special guests' and it was very much a case of 'the customer is always right'. Even thinking about it she wanted to make quote marks in the air. Her very thoughts were edged with a bitter sarcasm.
She'd kept herself on the level merely by out talking anyone who made an approach she didn't like, but since the O'Malleys had taken over, she'd had to get used to the groping. Making complaints to her new employers merely brought her to their attention more, and she really didn't want that. So, she'd quietly tended bar, and out talked the increasingly drunk 'guests' - and put up with the clouds of stinking smoke that hung around the place. Not all of it was tobacco either. Again, she hadn't asked - she didn't want to know. All she wanted to do was go to work, come home and be paid.
And she'd been paid - enough to make rent, and enough to mean she could treat herself to breakfast at Nighthawk's - after the world's longest shower, that had left her feeling and smelling a lot more human. She sat alone, in a booth near the front of the diner, having order eggs and bacon, and drinking a cup of strong coffee as she cast her eyes over the newspaper, with it's glaring headline about the serial killer. For once, it seemed, teh city had good news.
[open]
There was nothing like some
There was nothing like some of Margie's apple pie when you were trying to calm those annoying nerves. Not to mention throwing in an incredibly large coffee loaded with cream and sugar to start the day. Sam was both looking forward to and dreading the work day ahead. First day as a detective, partnered with "hero" cop Jakob Hollis who, according to the front of that morning's Echo, bagged himself the serial killer that had been prowling the area. Sam suspected her father's support for her taking the exam had to do with said killer.
Nighthawk's was pretty slow when she walked in that morning, boots thumping softly on the cracked checkered floor of her former place of employment. She pocketed her aviators and grinned at the pie already waiting on the counter. "Margie," she laughed. "You're a mind reader."
The older woman just laughed. "Coffee'll be up soon, kiddo."
Sam nodded in thanks and looked around for a paper. The only one she found was currently being used by a pretty young woman sitting at a booth with her breakfast.
"Excuse me," she said, walking over with a smile. "Would you mind if I checked over that paper of yours when you're done?"
Kess finished off her
Kess finished off her mouthful of eggs as he looked up, bags showing under her eyes from lack of sleep last night. She could have hidden them with makeup, but she didn't care for the stuff and only wore it when she had to. "Sure, not a problem, I'm nearly done," she told the other woman. What with the big headline, she wasn't at all surprised to find that news was in high demand for the day. Pity the paper didn't deliver much more than the headline. It all seemed to just be rumour and supposition. The only thing that seemed certain was that the killer had been caught. The paper said 'arrested', but even there, there was so little detail, it felt like the Echo had jumped to a conclusion.
"Looks like you had one hell
"Looks like you had one hell of a night last night," she said, referring to the tired pallor of the woman. No one thought to have given her a case file to prepare her and she figured to try get as much information as possible before going in.
Kess gave her a smile and
Kess gave her a smile and chuckled a little. "The downside of having an evening job - late nights," she explained. "I guess I could have slept in more, but my stomach woke me up - can't beat the eggs here. or, well, i can't - I never was that much of a cook..." Kess could do basic things, she had always been able to do enough to keep her family fed, but she was no great chef, and the food here was definitely better than she managed. She'd never been able to get her eggs this fluffy.
"Oh, tell me about it," Sam
"Oh, tell me about it," Sam gushed, taking a seat across from Kess. "I worked here for almost two years and Margie still won't tell me the secret to the eggs, so you're not alone, I assure you." Sam couldn't cook that much period, except for simple things like oatmeal and cereal. Things tended to burn rather easier under her hands.
.
Kess raised an eyebrow and smiled a little. "You worked here?" she asked, a little surprised at that - but she knew she'd only been coming here for a little over a year. She'd used to have a family to look after and her ex-husband had always demanded breakfast, and usually taken the opportunity to berate her about the quality of her eggs. Since she'd left him, and lost her daughter, she swore she'd never cook breakfast again - these days, she either ate out, or she went without. "So, what do you do now?" she asked, curiously.
Yeah, oh, it must be four
Yeah, oh, it must be four years almost," Sam mussed, looping her hair behind her ears. She both missed and didn't miss Nighthawk's. The hours were killer (she didn't miss that) but the tips were good (she missed that). "Then I went to the academy." She nodded to the headline. "My new partner should be basking in the glory today, I guess. And on a side note, Margie's apple pie?" She indicated the plate before her. "Is to fucking die for."
"The academy?" Kess asked,
"The academy?" Kess asked, continuing with that whole 'surprised' theme. It seemed a good one to go with. "You mean the police academy? Wow." After all, every police officer she'd ever met had been male. It definitely eclipsed the news about the apple pie.
Sam grinned, blushing a
Sam grinned, blushing a little. Yeah, she liked pulling out the whole "I'm a cop with tits" bit. The surprise, shock, and/or incredulity on people's faces was always something pretty entertaining. "Yeah. Just got promoted to detective. Boys shouldn't get to have all the fun, you know what I mean?" She smiled up at the waitress who brought over her steaming mug of extra sugar-y caffeinated goodness. "Do you want any pie? My treat," she offered with a grin. "And wow. I'm Sam, by the way. Sam Tyler."
Kess looked down at her
Kess looked down at her empty plate of breakfast, then back at Sam. "Don't you think it's a little early for pie?" she asked, half a mind on her figure. But then again, she'd never been the kind of girlie girl that worried too much about that. Still, she'd only just finished off her breakfast. "Or is the pie really that good I shouldn't miss out?" she asked, willing to be talked into it. "And congratulations on the promotion, Sam - I'm Kess."
"It's never too early for
"It's never too early for pie, Kess. Especially Margie's pie," Sam assured with a grin, although it looked like this was a woman who seemed to worry about her figure. What a waste. No one should ever miss out on Margie's apple pie.
Kess considered this, before
Kess considered this, before smiling. "Well, then I guess that I should have some pie then - thanks," she agreed. "So, what made you want to join the police?" she asked. She didn't know any other female cops and, she had to admit, she'd kinda assumed that they were all men. It seemed to attract that sort of macho bullshit, in her opinion.
Sam waved over for another
Sam waved over for another slice of pie, shrugging and taking a bite of her own. "You know, I'm still not all that sure," she said after a minute of chewing. "I've known cops in the past and there isn't any kind of law out there preventing women from joining. Women just stick to dispatching if they join the force."
"But you didn't," Kess
"But you didn't," Kess summarised. "I mean - dispatchers aren't detectives, right? You went a different route. Is that hard? Being the only woman in your job - or is that something that you're about to find out the answer to?" Kess asked as her plate was cleared away and replaced with a slice of pie. Kess herself had had no real career ambition. She'd found herself pregnant at 18, married not long thereafter and, in theory, she'd been ready to be happy as a wife and mother. Course, that theory hadn't factored Eugene into the equation. he'd been far from the ideal husband. And, in Kess' opinion, far from the ideal father, though Arden adored him. She always had.
"I'm the only female cop to
"I'm the only female cop to come through EC and the first detective, so it's going to be just me. It was hard going through the Academy. You've gotta work twice as hard and twice as fast as any of those other schmucks." Sam grinned suddenly. "But it's worth it knowing that most of them are still uniforms wandering around. I took the exam as soon as I was eligible." She tapped the newspaper headline. "You get to work on the big stuff." Sam, unlike Kess, didn't have the struggles to go through. She considered herself lucky that she was able to go through life with her safety net and not have to worry about taking care of a home herself. Ma still didn't like her working, but then again, Ma didn't think women should work period.
Kess glanced at the
Kess glanced at the headline, then back at the other woman, raising an eyebrow. "yoU were involved in this?" she asked, assuming that that was what sam was getting at. If so, she was impressed - this was the biggest story the city had seen for a while, and now, apparently, they'd got the bastard. Kess knew she'd feel a lot safer at night having read that.
"Sadly no," Sam said,
"Sadly no," Sam said, looking a bit mournful. "But it's those sorta cases that my parents would rather have me behind a desk than on the streets." She had a bad feeling that her new partner, the one in charge of that particular investigation, was going to turn out to be a complete ant total ass, but she'd deal. She always did.
"I'm sure with those sort of
"I'm sure with those sort of cases, the parents of the guys would prefer to have them safe behind a desk as well," Kess pointed out, mildly. As a mother herself, albeit of a daughter, she couldn't imagine that the sex of er child would make her be any more or less worried about them putting their lives on the line for their job.
"Very true," Sam conceded.
"Very true," Sam conceded. She finished off her slice of pie and sipped at her coffee. "Here's my card," she said, fishing the plain card out of her pocket. Samantha Tyler, ECPD Homicide and her contact information was on it and she slid it over. "I may be in homicide, but it doesn't mean that it's the only thing I can do." It wasn't that she thought that this woman was in trouble, even if, in this city, the likelihood was that she WAS in trouble, but a female on the force might make her feel more comfortable if there was ever a problem.
Kess quirked a smile and
Kess quirked a smile and took the card. "Thanks - and good luck with the new job Sam," Kess told her, likewise finishing off her own pie. She felt slightly more human for the food. Maybe if she got the rest of her day done soon enough she could go back to bed for a few hours before work. That would be nice...