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."Good to see you, too.""Sorry about earlier." He shrugged his jacket off and hung it over the back of the chair."Bunch of shit was right in the middle of hitting the fan when you called."I laughed."Sorry I interrupted.""Oh no, don’t be." He smiled."Trust me, it was a nice distraction.Besides, you know how it is in this line of work.One minute it’s paralyzing boredom, the next it’s chaos and catastrophe.""Oh, yeah, I know how it goes."He glanced at the bar."So what are you drinking?"I shrugged."Whatever, I’m easy." I cringed."Fuck, I mean—"Andrew laughed."I was going to get a Miller Light.""That works.Miller Light.Yeah.""Wait here." He went to the bar, leaving me to roll my eyes at my own Freudian slip.When he returned with our drinks, we made small talk for a while.In spite of our odd—if brief—history, we fell easily into conversation.I was more at ease with him than perhaps I should have been.Sure, we’d fucked, but it was a one night stand, and now we lacked the obligatory awkwardness of two people together after what should have been a one nighter.He should have reminded me of that day, we should have had a hard time looking each other in the eye after that night, but he didn’t and we didn’t.After a while, I said, "So, how is Macy doing?""Good, good," he said."They’re still keeping her in the hospital.Some sort of complication or something.Hell if I know what.They’re pretty sure she’ll make a full recovery, though.""Glad to hear it.""Yeah, me too.""Are you working without her, then?" I asked."In Masontown?""Not in Masontown, no.Our cover is blown, so she and I won’t be working that neighborhood any time soon.A few other detectives are already in the area."I took a drink."Just out of curiosity, with these new detectives, what happens if one of them sees Jesse or Shawn? After everything that went down the other night?""Well, they both have plenty of outstanding warrants already."I raised an eyebrow."And yet no one bothered to arrest Shawn at the scene? Or while he was filing a complaint against me?"Andrew shook his head, scowling."The officers on the scene didn’t realize he had warrants, and the clerks at city hall were so flooded with complaints and paperwork, they didn’t give a fuck who he was.""Great.How convenient.""Tell me about it." He sipped his beer, then absently tapped the bottle on the edge of the table."The guys that took my place would book him in a heartbeat if it didn’t mean blowing their cover.Every crook in Masontown is sniffing around for wires and badges right now." He set the bottle down."But my guys are keeping an eye on both of them.Sounds like Shawn’s actually been keeping a pretty low profile."I tried—and failed—not to watch Andrew’s fingers playing with the label on his beer bottle."What about Jesse?"He shrugged."High as a kite, from what I’ve been told.He was hanging around while the movers cleared out the apartment Macy and I shared.They said he was real agitated, mumbling to himself, that kind of thing.Don’t know how much of that was withdrawal and how much was him freaking out looking for Macy, though.""Lovely.""Yeah, no shit." Andrew shifted slightly in his chair, resting his forearms on the table."Have you considered transferring out of the station? Maybe working in a different part of town?""Should I?" I said."I mean, Shawn made that threat at the scene, but he hasn’t done anything.""Well, no.I guess I’m just a little extra cautious about things like this." He ran his finger along the neck of his bottle, eyes staring unfocused at the table."I mean, I’m not trying to make you nervous, I just, you know, think we should take it seriously."I picked up my drink."Well, if things do get ugly with Shawn, I’ll consider a transfer, but…" I trailed off, neither finishing the thought nor taking a drink.He cocked his head."But…?""Here’s the thing." I sighed and set my beer down."My station is already a skeleton crew.We’re running ambulances with only two people on board, and we’re down to a total of four paramedics and four EMT-Basics, not counting the firefighters that are EMT-B trained.If I leave, I’d be willing to bet money that if they replace me at all, it’ll be with an EMT-B instead of a paramedic.""Remind me what the difference is.""Just different levels of certification.I can intubate, give certain kinds of drugs." I paused."I can treat a tension pneumothorax.An EMT-B can’t."Andrew’s eyebrows jumped."And you don’t think they’d replace you with someone equally qualified?"I shrugged."State only requires us to have three.With the way they’ve been fucking with our crews, I wouldn’t put it past them.""Still, if it’s what you need to do to stay safe…""There’s always a certain element of danger in this job," I said."Not unlike yours.""Yeah, I know." He clasped his hands together on the table."I just want to make sure you’re not putting yourself in harm’s way.I don’t think Shawn’s going to do anything, but I don’t know for sure.In a perfect world, I’d know, but I don’t.""Yeah, and in a perfect world, the city would build the firehouse they’ve been talking about for years, so my house could focus on the people living on the other side of the river, which would solve numerous problems.""No shit.I’ve been wondering when they’re going to do that." He ran his finger along the edge of the coaster under his beer bottle."A lot of those people are already fucked by circumstance and the city just won’t get off its ass and get them the emergency facilities they need.""Yes, exactly."He sipped his beer and tapped the bottle on the table’s edge again
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