Several Beverages Before Bed

Danny was frustrated, but that made sense. He'd spent the day at the new open air market creating the police presence they wanted while they waited for someone to make progress on catching the killer. It also looked like the rest of his weekend would be spend doing the same thing. He shouldn't mind because the work wasn't hard, but being reassigned is always annoying. Nonetheless the day was over and Jackson was in their usual spot at Hanged Man and Danny was relieved to not be drinking alone.

He nodded hello to a few brothers on the beat at the bar and made his way to the back of the bar. "'Ello Jack," Danny called to him, refusing to call the younger man by his full name. He dropped into his seat across from Jackson and taking the beer before saying anything else? "You getting any closer to catching this bastard? I'm getting tired of working these stupid 'safe' events and would rather go back to working my normal beat." Which also meant he wanted to get back to an assignment where it was easier to drink during the day.

Jackson grinned widely at Danny and laughed at his long expression
"Nice to see you too, you're welcome for the beer, and I'm doin' great - thanks for asking!"
He took a long draw on his beer and continued slightly more seriously.
"Sorry you're stuck on civilian-guarding duty, man. But you know the whole...serial murderer thing ain't my watch, unless they think drug traffficking's involved somehow," he snorted. The joys of Vice.
"Not that I wouldn't love to go after that evil freak. But I'm off suspension tomorrow, should play it boring for a little while, huh? Anyway - how's your lady?"
Janey was a nice girl, and he often felt like Danny maybe didn't pay enough attention to her. But that could be his fault, keeping the guy out drinking at all hours.

Danny raised the beer in mock toast as thank you. "I know you're not on it, but I know you love sticking your nose in where it doesn't belong." It was usual for Danny to jab at Jackson for making detective before Danny even got looked at for the part. Not that Danny was sure he was interested in a promotion. He'd have to dress a hell of a lot nicer. "Honestly I'm on the uniform team for it, but they don't need us until they have someone to take down or until more bodies show up." He took another gulp of beer, enjoying it immensely. "Janey's alright, she's been so damn busy with church she doesn't notice I'm gone half the time." For the millionth time Danny wondered if he should tell Jackson about Stella, but he checked himself yet again. "When are you going to settle down?"

Jackson laughed heartily at Danny's accurate description of his character. There was some bizarre pride in knowing that he was the guy who rushed in. Fearless was a good thing.
"Hey! Cop business is cop business! There's too much bureaucracy in this job, you know that. No such thing as where my nose don't belong. Bad guys is bad guys."
He shrugged, and sipped more beer, always somewhat in awe of how quickly Danny managed to swallow his. No wonder the guy was always grouchy on the job - permahungover. But it didn't really swell on Jackson's mind - men drank. It was a constant of his upbringing, and so he was okay with it. He carried on cheerfully, responding to Danny's comments about 'settling down'
"I dunno. You ain't exactly a shining beacon on the wonders of married life, Danny. You need to be a better rolemodel, old man, maybe then I'll find a wife who can deal with me never being home 'cuz of work and, other stuff."
Other stuff being Jenny. Who Danny knew about, but only that she was his sister and she was sick a lot. Not many people knew the degrees to which Jenny was broken.

"See that's where you're missing out on moving up in the world? Being just a basic cop means I can stick my nose in almost anything," Danny gave Jackson a wink. In the back of his mind he thought about his own situation and what Jackson would make of it. A cop with a debt owed to the Giavonnis. Somehow he thought his friend might turn his back on Danny. Hell, Danny would turn his back on himself if he had a choice. "If you get married it would be time to stop worrying about everyone else and start focusing on just your wife. You can't save everyone," Danny reminded Jackson.

Jackson frowned slightly. This was reminiscent of his earlier conversation with Brett. Why did people think like that? Why did people think there were limitations to how much you could help? It seemed like a cop out. Although he resented the word choice in that phrase.
"I don't know Danny. Why the hell can't we save everyone? What's stopping us? We're big guys, we can shoot straight, we know the difference between right n' wrong, and whatever else there might be...heck. That's the main thing, ain't it? Why we wanted to do this job. Detective, beat cop, I dunno. There's no difference."
He grinned to lighten the mood slightly. He knew Danny didn't always appreciate his moral outbursts.
"Apart from I get a snappy suit n' you look like crap...but heck, I don't even think a suit'll save you."

"If I remember correctly, you made more lady friends when you wore a uniform than you ever have wearing that suit of yours," Danny pointed out with a sly smile. "And you're right, we are a tough group, and we took this job to stop the wrong in the world, but Jack, there's more and more wrong in the world. And more and more of it doesn't look wrong." Danny's morals used to run the straight and narrow, everything was just as black and white as Jackson saw it but there was gray filtering in here and there, and the edges of the path were a little blurred. He knew full well cheating on Janey with Stella was wrong, but it didn't feel wrong. "It's the little girls who are raised in the mob life who end up dragging the good guys down." Danny took another gulp and the beer was almost gone. "We're going to need a lot more manpower to take it all down." And we're going to have to start changing ourselves.

Jackson had some fond memories of being fresh out of the academy and using the badge as a pass into a kiss from a pretty girl. Yeah - they liked a guy in uniform. But still, Danny'd made a weird comment there.
"Little mob girls?"
Jackson made a funny 'snrk'ing noise
"What the hell does that mean?"

"Doesn't mean anything really," Danny started. He might as well tell Jackson about Cheyenne in some regard. "I met one the other day, on my beat? Young pretty girl. When I ran into her she thought she was being followed. Of course I helped her, but that's the problem. There are so few people in this city who aren't mob connected that it's hard to figure who is and who isn't. And it's these people we try and help who will end up being the ones who do us in. We'll be out there helping them and then BAM! They'll change their tune." Perhaps Danny was being a little pessimistic but he had the mob lurking behind him. He didn't trust a single person out there. With another gulp he finished his beer and caught the bartender's eye to motion for two more even though Jackson was only halfway through his beer.

Jackson managed another good few mouthfuls of his beer as Danny spoke, trying to keep up with his friend. It was getting harder. He contemplated the endless Mob connections in Eidolon. Thought of Brett again. It was true enough that this city was crawling with rats and greed and ruin. However Jackson felt like all that was needed was a damn good exterminator.
"Well, of course you helped out the pretty lady," Jackson smirked "You think with your brain, ever? And okay, she's some Moll. You're right. There's a lot of people tangled with crime in this fuckin' city. But maybe, if all we can do is help one person at a time, then that's what we gotta do. Most people is good people, Danny. They're just scared." he shrugged, downing his drink as quickly as he could as the second pints arrived. Lord, he wouldn't be able to keep this pace.
"Maybe you should introduce me to this pretty mob girl, huh? She a blonde? I can be a real comfort to scared blonde girls!"
Mostly, this was just talk. He wasn't particularly fond of messing girls around, and who was he kidding if he thought he had enough time to look after yet another woman? Jenny took every moment that wasn't work, pretty much.

"For starters she's too young for you," Danny countered. "But yea she's blonde, kinda. Her hair's white really. It's crazy." He shook his head as if to get rid of the thought. "It's not like that. I'm always thinking with my brain, ya ass. I'm just a sucker for a damsel in distress." Handing his empty glass to the waitress and Danny picked up the next glass, trying not to laugh at his friend struggling to finish his first. On a normal night Danny would be working on his third by now, but the conversation was slowing him down. Not that he really minded, it just was a fact. He'd dreamt again last night and woke up feeling eerie and hungry. That was the last thing he wanted for tonight. "The way I figure though, I want to be helping the right person. Not only can you not save everyone, but some people don't deserve it."

"White hair and she's too young for me? Yeesh. Either you figure I like my ladies a lot older'n I do or this city really is gettin' taken over by weirdos."
Jackson shook his head and continued working on his beer, examining Danny with some scepticism. They had a lot in common, but perhaps less than Jackson thought. His friends were falling by the wayside in what Jackson considered his Crusade. No-one seemed to be on his level when it came to the knowledge that this city could be saved.
"Hey, most people've got good in 'em, Danny. Not the big up-high Mob men, not the killers and the traffickers, but the small people who get caught up? You gotta have some faith or you end up...like...I dunno,"
He had been going to say Brett's name, but he didn't feel it would be appropriate to mention their rendezvous to Danny. Instead he switched his tone to jovial and took another gulp of beer,
"Bitter. You lose your hope and you end up switchin' teams. Takin' the easier route. And there in leads to you gettin' your ass kicked and put in jail by me!"
He laughed, and punched his friend playfully on the arm.

"I didn't say I could explain it Jack," Danny scoffed briefly getting defensive about Cheyenne. He really did believe she was a good kid, and although he wouldn't really admit it he was somewhat concerned that she hadn't stopped by to report the stalker. "You can continue to dream about putting me away. I'd take you down faster than you can stand up." Danny's threat was honest, but his face held a tone of joking so as to lighten the intensity. "I think I'm just a little messed up about this whole killer thing. I was at one of the debriefing meetings and the pictures and descriptions...it's fucked up shit man. I've seen bad stuff, but those deaths...they were just strange."

Jackson nodded, he was in complete agreement about this serial killer lunatic. It was hard, with homicide, just to bust in. No leads, no witnesses, just a long line of mutilated corpses.
"You're workin' the beat on the Ripper case, huh? I hope they get this sick fuck off the street soon. I don't get filled in much about it, being as it's out of my department - they found a couple butchered hookers though, I remember gettin' some gory details on that one. I dunno what the hell is wrong with people. I really don't - they got many leads to work with?"
Jackson was drinking quicker now, and was getting to the bottom of his second beer, he raised an eyebrow to the barman and gestured for more. He had to be careful - back to work tomorrow - but it felt good to be catching up. Felt good that at least there was one person in the guise of Danny who still got where he was coming from.

"They pulled me into the meeting. I'm on the call list I guess if they assume there's a need for more uniforms. They briefed a bunch of us and now we're the crew they are calling in to secure perimeters and the like. But I still haven't been drug out yet. I think everyone wants a piece of this one." Danny had already finished his beer, but he continued to fidget with the empty glass while waiting on the next one. "It doesn't look like they have much of anything to be honest. All the dead girls sort of look the same, but they don't have much else in common." Part of Danny doubted that they'd find the guy only after he'd killed far more women. "They think he's starting to fuck with the cops now, dumping bodies in obvious places and such, but who knows right?"

"It's when these sick fucks get cocky that we stand a better chance of catching 'em. What the hell is it with this city, though? Why do we attract all the violent psychopaths?"
Jackson shook his head and grinned as his third beer arrived.
"Well. I dunno. Here's to the good guys?"
He laughed and tipped his glass at Danny before taking a large sip.

The good guys is right, Danny thought, keeping his internal struggle masked on his face with a smile and nod. He followed suit, only his gulp pounded down more than Jackson's. Sure Jack could drink, but he saved it for weekends or special events whereas Danny was in a bar almost every night of the week. "I just don't want to see more people die," he pointed out, appealing to Jackon's hero complex.

"Yeah. Me either. If there was a way we could hunt that fucker down....you game for posing as a defenceless young woman, Danny my man? We could get you a cute dress, a wig. Then BAM. When the killer comes for you, we beat the shit out out of him. Best. Cockblock. Ever."
Jackson laughed heartily and drank more beer. Heck, he probably shouldn't joke about things like serial killers. He kind of meant it though. If there was a way to find out who the killer was and string the perverse bastard up? Jackson'd do it in a heartbeat.

"You know you're the one with the girly figure aren't you? Perhaps we dress you up all pretty-like and see what happens? Granted you might do better off with playing that end of the field eh?" Danny teased and took another long pull. "You got a point out beating the shit out of that fucker. Let's hope he doesn't meet us in a dark alley eh? We'll both lose our jobs."

Jackson puffed out his chest and tilted his chin upwards in an 'Action Hero' pose. Just like in the movies.
"Girlish? Me? Hey, I dunno what 6'3 ladies with stubble have been saying to you, fella, but I think you've been had."
He winked in the fashion of a co-conspirator and continued to drink. he was matching Danny's speed with a little more ease now - and perhaps doing so was adding to the buzz he was beginning to feel. Ugh, it so wouldn't do to get drunk the night before his first day back at work.
"I don't see why we'd have to loose our jobs for doing them right. Heck. I wouldn't kill him. Just hurt him. A lot. And then take him in a nice pair of too-small cuffs to the jailhouse. For all the damage this freak has done there's no way he'd escape bein' chaired. Those girls...it's. I dunno. We all got family."

"Have you seen the pictures? I'd have a hard time stopping beating his face in before killing him." Danny was a tough guy and if there was one thing he couldn't stand it was when someone fucked with an innocent. "Maybe he'll pull a gun and we'll get to shoot him and call it justified." Danny noticed Jackson was getting a little buzzed, mostly because he was getting silly. With a devilish smile Danny motioned for the next round. Four was a standard night for him, just enough to take the edge off. He was only just now starting to feel that little bit of fuzz around side of all his sharp edges. "So when are you going back to work you bum?"

Sure, Jackson'd seen a couple of the pictures. It was horrible. The bodies barely looked human anymore. It was disgusting. But despite everything, he was a boy who trusted the law. He believed in Justice. He mock groaned as Danny ordered a fourth beer.
"Tomorrow morning, which is yet another reason why I should stop mooching around bars with you. Some detective I am, huh? I got a feelin' that there's some unsavoury characters I need to talk to about some girls gettin' brought into the city. Or something else. Something new. And I'm gonna be without a partner because that pussy Murano asked for a transfer."
Jackson grinned mischievously,
"I guess I did get him shot. But only a little bit. Anyway, what about you, you got time off lined up? Spend some quality time with your pretty lady!"

"I'm surprised it took him getting shot before he transfered away from you. Hell I'm not even sure I'd take promotion if it meant I got stuck with you." Danny laughed, finishing off his third as the fourth arrived. He took it with a sly grin and finished off a quarter of it before going on. "I'm working all fucking weekend. They've moved everyone available to the stupid market in the park, which means me. It's not too bad though. Tomorrow's Sunday. Janey'll be at church all damn day and me having to work gets me out of having to tag along." Danny took another drink and then looked away. He did love Janey, so much, but he it didn't motivate him to go to church. They kept talking about giving things up to God and it just seemed like a waste. He had enough guilt in his life, he didn't need to hear about it from a man who'd devoted his life to celibacy.

"They lumped me with you as a partner I'd quit, you sulky fucker,"
He was joking, of course, and Jackson always felt a little bad that Danny kept getting passed over for promotion. He felt like his getting to Detective was mostly a fluke. Luck and talent and a big mouth will get you pretty far - but obviously Danny was missing one of those factors and it sure as hell wasn't talent. Not from Jackson's point of view.
"Why so down on Church? I don't go 'cuz of lack of time, but it's an okay gig. My Mom's crazy for it. Anyway, poor Janey's gonna meet some choir boy with a bigger pair'n you if you don't watch out."
His tone was jovial, and he was of course oblivious to the touchiness of the ground he was treading. He was more aware of the fact that he kind of needed to pee. The beer was getting to him, just a little bit.

"You'd be lucky if you could last that long with me at your side." Danny smirked lightly but did cringe a little when Jackson joked about Janey running off. No matter how much he fucked up, there would be one thing that remained constant: Janey. "Last I checked, most of those choir boys had their hardware removed so they could hit the high notes." He took another sip before going on. "I'm just not a fan. But Janey loves it so I go with her when I don't have to work. It's just not my scene. I hear enough about my screw ups from you. I don't know need it from someone else."

"Aww I'm just fucking with you. Would I drink with someone who I honestly considered a waste of space? No. So quit bein' a girl. Although maybe you should stop checkin' out the choirboy's hardware. Dunno if I can condone that kind of behaviour!"
He laughed again, everything was funny once the beer kicked in. When you were Jackson Haas quite a lot was funny anyway. But he was very aware that it was getting late, and he was getting drunk, and he had to go to work smack on 7 tomorrow morning.
"You'n Janey'll be okay. She's a good girl. It's gotta be hard bein' married to one of us goofy bunch, huh? Anyway look, I am really honestly gonna have to go. I'm gonna have to freakin' walk too 'cuz there's no way I'm drivin' like this."
Jackson wasn't drunk yet, he was tipsy, but his conscience wouldn't let him drive after more than one beer. It was part of that whole 'squeaky clean' thing that Brett had been on his case for earlier in the day. Fuckin' Brett Trent. That had been strange...
and now his mind was wandering. yeah. Definitely tipsy.

"You lightweight," Danny chided, pounding down the last of it. "Here you are calling me a girl and you know full well I could push down at least three more." He couldn't help smiling though at the way the guy almost started giggling at himself. Man he was a total putz sometimes. "Seriously, who is going to pull you over? Me?" That wouldn't be right at all. If Jackson was bailing out so early, Danny looked at his watch briefly, then he was headed to see if he could find Stella. Hopefully she could actually get some time off work for once.

Jackson gave Danny a playful shove as he stood up and pulled on his coat. It was another cold ass night. The beer'd take the edge off that, at least.
"Aww, whatever. You know it's not about gettin' pulled over. Don't pout so much sweetheart. Go home. Spend some quality time with your wife. Get laid!"
Jackson laughed again and ruffled Danny's hair as he made his way towards the door. He kind of felt bad for bailing out early. But sometimes, you had to be the responsible killjoy. It was part of this 'growing up' thing he and Danny had done so much of together in the past 10 years.

"You should take your own damn advice," Danny told him, pushing Jackson's hand away from his head as he got up with him. He pulled out his wallet and dropped a few bills on the table, not really enough to cover the bill, but the guy who owned the place didn't ask many questions when it came to Danny. He was there enough that the owner made enough money off Danny's bad habits. He followed Jackson outside, shoving his hands in his pockets against the cold that had turned up. While Jack would head home and try to sleep it off before work in the morning, Danny had one more stop before the night ended. "Jack," Danny said reaching out to pat his friend's shoulder. "Be safe out there." It was a heartfelt warning, but not sappy, just a general wish for good luck between two people who knew how bad it could get out there.