No Bed of Roses Part 1
Patt
When Jim was in the locker room cleaning up after finishing up a
very messy case, two officers confronted him.
“Ellison, do you think your kind should be in our locker room?”
Jim knew that there would be problems when they were accidentally
outed at the station but he was hoping for at least a week to prepare for
it. Sighing, he turned and said, “You
got a problem, Landers?”
“I sure do, Ellison. I don’t think that you belong here anymore.
Why don’t you do us all a big favor and leave?” Landers growled out as he was
walking by.
“Well, I was good enough to save your ass last month, wasn’t I?”
Jim asked getting right up into Landers’s face.
“I would have rather died that have been saved by a fag. God, you fucking make me sick to my stomach. Don’t you know how much the guys around here hate you?” Landers asked.
“You’re such a fucking whiner, Landers. Grow up and shut the fuck up.” Jim said.
Before Jim even had a chance to think, four men his size had him
held against his will and shoved into his closed locker. “You think you are so cool, Ellison, don’t
you? Well, we could show you how
helpless you really are.”
The four men drug Jim into the shower and held him under the
water. Very hot water until Jim yelled
out. “You son-of-a-bitch. Do you think I won’t tell Captain Banks or
IA?”
“So tell. There are four
of us, one of you. Who do you think
they’ll believe? Four upstanding cops
or the fag cop.” Landers said, finally letting go of Jim.
Conner walked into the locker room and just stared at all of them,
and she saw Jim being shoved further into the shower. She just stood there. Jim
pleaded with Megan with his eyes but she turned away and walked out of the
room. Jim struggled as the four men once
again held him against his will and they stripped his clothing off and then
cuffed him to a pole in the middle of the room. It was not an easy task. Jim fought them with the strength of two
men. It still wasn’t enough when there were four, just as strong. “Landers, you had best watch your back
because I will fucking kill you.” Jim said with such hatred that he scared even
himself.
They all laughed as they walked out of the room and Jim was left
there wet, cold and naked, handcuffed to the pole. No way out until someone would set him free. Jim was still in
shock about Megan Conner. She was one
of Blair’s best friends. She and he had
never been close but Blair and she had always been close. Jim just leaned his head into the pole and
tried to take deep breaths until someone got there.
He heard someone coming into the room and saw it was Rafe and
Brown. Both men ran over to Jim,
un-cuffing him and giving him a towel at the same time. “Who did this, Jim?” Brown asked.
“It doesn’t fucking matter, Brown. I’ll take care of it.” Jim said savagely.
“It does matter, Jim.
Simon'll have to hear about this.” Rafe said.
“They want me to go and whine to Simon. That’s what they’re waiting for.” Jim said getting dressed in his
change of clothing from his locker.
“Where's Hairboy?” Rafe asked.
“He’s fine, Bri, he’s with Conner.” Brown said.
“What do you mean he’s with Conner?” Jim asked.
“He’s upstairs doing the paperwork from the case they were working
on. Don’t worry so much, Jim. We’ll
keep our eyes on him.” Brown said.
“Thanks, guys.” Jim said as he started out of the room, then
turning back he said, “Will you guys keep this to yourselves? I don’t want Sandburg to know.”
“Jim, that’s not a good idea.” Rafe said.
“Rafe, how many times have I helped you when you needed it?” Jim
asked.
“Fine, but if something happens to you, it will all come back to
this and he’ll fucking blame me and Henri.”
“Don’t worry so much, Rafe.” Jim said leaving the room.
Jim felt as low as he had ever felt in his life. He could never look his friends in the eye
again. That was past embarrassing. He was helpless when those guys had
him. They were right; they could do
anything to him. Big Jim Ellison isn’t
as tough as he thought he was. In fact,
he’s pretty fucking pathetic. With
shoulders slumping a little more with each step, Jim made his way up to see if
Blair was all right. * And what if he
isn’t? You couldn’t help yourself. What makes you think you could help
him? Blair deserves better than that. *
“So what the hell was that about?” Rafe asked Brown.
“Who knows? I mean, you
know Ellison. He’ll never tell us who
it was.” Brown said.
“I still think we should tell Captain Banks.” Brown said.
“Yeah, I do too. Let’s
wait for Jim to take off and we’ll tell him.” Rafe said. “I’m afraid that Jim
will end up killing one of these men or something. I would guess there's more
than one. Not even on a good day could
I take him out on my own.”
“Agreed. I think there had
to have been at least three or four.
Was anyone around here when we were on our way down? Do you remember?” Brown asked.
“Henri, it was Landers.” Rafe said, “as we came down the stairs,
he and his pals were going up.”
“Good, now we have a name.
I wonder how long they’ve been hurting one of ours?” Brown asked.
“I think maybe we should watch them for a few days and then go to
Simon.” Rafe said, “What do you think of that idea, Henri?”
“No, I think we should go to see Simon tonight. After Jim leaves.”
“Okay, we’ll do that then.
I hope we know what we’re doing.” Rafe said as they walked out of the
room.
Brown and Rafe were each
left to their own thoughts as they walked back up the stairs to the
bullpen. Brown was thinking he never
thought he’d see the day that Big Jim Ellison would look like he was giving up,
but today he saw that. Rafe was
thinking that he’d never seen Jim so quiet and that scared the fuck out of
Rafe. When someone like Jim Ellison got
that quiet, he could crack and kill someone.
Not that Rafe would blame him one bit.
Both men knew they would be troubled about this for the rest of the day
and night.
Jim got up to the bullpen and sat at his desk and his partner
smiled from his desk and said, “Where you been?”
Smiling and trying to stay calm, he said, “I was changing in the
locker room.”
Conner walked into the room and Jim stood up and said, “Conner,
could I talk to you for a minute?”
“Sure, Jim, we’ll go in room 3.
No one's in there.” she said.
Once they got into the room she turned to him and said, “What do
you want?”
“Conner, I thought we were all friends.” Jim asked.
“Ellison, we’ve never been friends. Never. I’m friends with
Sandy, not you.”
“But you know how much we love each other. How could you do this to him?” Jim asked
incredulously.
“Ellison, get real. No one
cares about you. You’re giving the rest
of us a bad name and you’re ruining Blair’s chances of getting anywhere. They’ll start on him soon if you don’t drop
him.”
“Conner, they can’t do this.
It’s against the law. You know
that better than anyone.”
“Think about it, Ellison, because it won’t be long and they’ll
treat him the way they do you. Do you
want this to happen to Sandy?”
Jim didn’t answer and stormed out of the room, slamming the door
behind him. Blair caught up with him
and said, “Hey, man, what’s up? Why are
you and Megan fighting?”
“Just agreeing to disagree, Blair. Don’t fuss so much.
Nothing to worry about.” Jim said sadly.
“Is everything all right, Jim?” Blair asked looking at Jim’s face
with such admiration, that Jim almost melted on the spot.
“Yeah, I’m fine, Chief.
Want to go out for dinner tonight?”
“Sure Jim. I just need to
go get cleaned up and change my clothes.” Blair said heading for the locker
room.
“We’ll go home first.” Jim said quickly as he led Blair to the
elevator and they got on. Blair glanced
over at Jim, seeing the nervous look on his face and knew that something had
happened today that Jim wasn’t sharing.
As soon as the two men left,
Henri and Rafe walked to Simon’s office and knocked on the door. “Come in.” Simon bellowed.
“Sir, we have
something to report.” Rafe said.
“So report
it.” Simon said chewing on his cigar and getting short with them, knowing this
wasn’t going to be something he wanted to hear. * Why now? Why not this
morning? *
“Sir,” Brown
said, “we found Ellison stripped of his clothing and handcuffed to a pole in
the locker room today. We saw the main
person as he was leaving the locker room.”
“Is Jim all
right?” Simon asked. “And why didn’t you report it then?”
“Sir, he made
us promise that we wouldn’t tell you.” Brown said.
“But now you
are? Why? Why change your mind now?
I have to have Ellison sign papers for this, you know that, right?”
Simon asked.
“Well, he’s
going to have to get past the embarrassment part and realize that they did
something to him that shouldn’t have been done to anyone. They’ll go after
Hairboy next.” Brown said.
“Well, I’m
going to fill out the paper work and stop by the loft later and see if I can
talk to him.” Simon said.
“Sir, maybe
you could wait till morning, because Jim didn’t tell Sandburg.” Rafe said.
“Fuck this
shit. Sandburg needs to be aware of his
partner being accosted at the station.
Don’t you agree?” Simon almost yelled at the two men.
“Yes, we
totally agree, sir.” Both men answered at the same time, getting ready to make
their leave.
“I’ll take
care of things, don’t worry.” Simon said shutting the door after the two
retreating officers.
Simon sat down
at his desk and wondered, how in the hell, this happened, under his nose, his
precinct without him hearing about it.
He needed to really talk to Jim and Blair about this. Simon got up and walked to the file cabinet
to get the paper work needed for this, and threw his cigar across the
room. * Goddamn you, Ellison. Why did you have to go and change from
straight to gay one morning and ruin all of our lives? Banks, get a grip. You’re yelling at the wrong person. You’re supposed to be his friend; their friend. Don’t say or think these things, old
man. *
Joel appeared
at his door and knocked. “Simon,
everything all right?” he said sticking his head in the door.
“Joel, you’re
just in time, I could use someone to talk to.
Someone that might help me understand what I should do or not do.”
Both man sat
down and Joel waited patiently as Simon just chewed on a new cigar, trying to
figure out how he would say this to Joel.
“Joel, do you
ever get angry at Ellison for sleeping with Sandburg?”
“Of course
not. I think they make a great couple.”
Joel said in all honesty.
“Never once,
did you think that Ellison might be ruining something that shouldn’t be messed
with?”
“No,
Simon. Never. I think from day one, they were meant to be. Blair calmed Jim all the time. He could control him right off. I saw love
in their eyes even before they knew.”
“Well, I have
to file a report with IA and I’d like your help on this. I don’t know how to get Jim to go along with
it.”
“Something
happened to Blair?” Joel asked worriedly.
“No, it was
Ellison they got in the shower.”
“Who got Jim
in the shower?” Joel asked standing up, immediately going into his protective
mode.
It was an
officer from downstairs, and I have his name.
But Jim was leaving it be. He’s
not filed a report. Rafe and Brown came
to me. They want something done. They found Jim.”
“Is Jim all
right?” Joel asked concern written all over his kind face.
“He’s fine, I
didn’t even know about it. But now I
have to do something. Now I need
someone to help me talk Ellison into it.”
“You can count
on me, Simon.”
“You want to
go and grab some dinner and I’ll fill you in on it? I can also get these reports ready to go.” Simon asked.
“Sounds good,
Simon.” Joel said as they both walked through the doorway. Joel knew that things would never be the
same for any of them as of this day. He
found that very disheartening
The drive home
for Jim and Blair was very quiet. Once they arrived Blair jumped into the
shower and asked Jim if he wanted to join him. “No thanks, Chief. Remember, I just showered at work.”
“Jim, get your
ass in here.” Blair demanded.
Jim walked
into the bathroom and looked at his naked lover and tried not to think about
sex. “What do ya need, Blair?” Jim
asked calmly.
“Okay, you
never call me Blair unless you’re in trouble or you’re saying you love me. What’s going on? I want to know right now.”
“Chief,
there's nothing going on. I had that
argument with Conner and it put me in the wrong frame of mind.”
“What are you
and Conner fighting about?” Blair asked watching Jim’s face to see if he would
lie.
“Chief, does
Conner act all right around you since we’ve been outed?”
“Yeah, she’s
one of my best friends. Why would that
change?”
“Because she’s
not happy with me. She thinks I’m
wrecking your life.”
“Man, you must
have misunderstood because she knows how much I love you. I’ve told her about us.”
“Chief,
contrary to popular belief, most people at the station aren’t happy about you
and me being a couple.” Jim said sadly.
“Man, that
pisses me off. What's their
problem? We’re not hurting anyone. We’re happy. Why should they care, right?”
“Don’t worry
about it now, Chief. Maybe they’ll come
around.” Jim added as he walked over to make dinner.
“Want some
help there, big guy?”
“No, that’s
okay, just sit down and relax. I’ll
make dinner tonight.” Jim said as he busily started pulling pots and pans from
the cupboard.
Blair knew something
was up because Jim hated cooking dinner unless he had to and it wasn’t Jim’s
night. So, something was going on. “Hey, Jim, I’m going to go and get us some
wine for dinner, okay?”
“Sure,
Chief. Be careful.”
As Blair shut
and locked the door Jim was left to his thoughts, which sometimes was a very
scary place. He sure didn’t know what to do with them. * Those men would have
to be dealt with or they would end up hurting Blair. Or Jim would have to leave Blair. Could he do that? Yes, he
could. He had to. He would have to do what would be best for
Blair’s safety. If that meant, they
would just go back to being friends, then so be it. * The thought of having to leave Blair as his lover made him want
to cry. * God, you are such a wuss, Ellison.
Real men don’t cry. Blair deserves
better. *
When Blair got
to the store, he picked out a nice wine and went to pay for it. Then as soon as he got back in his car, he
just sat in it and called Conner on his cell phone. “Conner,” she answered.
“Hey, it’s just me. What’s
going on?”
“Nothing much. What are
you doing? Are you home?” Conner asked
wondering why he was calling her now.
“No, I needed to get some air.
So I’m at the store buying some things and decided to call for a
second. Are you busy?”
“I’m never too busy to talk to you.”
“Conner, how do you feel about me and Jim being together?” Blair
asked quietly.
“You want me to be honest?”
“Yeah, I need you to be honest because, for some reason, Jim's
really upset tonight and I need to know why.” Blair pleaded.
“Okay, I hate it. So do
most of the other officers in the station.
They feel like Jim has ruined your chances of moving up.”
“Wait a minute! So
everyone's mad at Jim?”
“Well, more or less. We
all know how he is when he wants something.
You probably didn’t even know what you were getting into,” Conner said
trying to sound like his best friend.
“Conner, I can’t believe that you of all people would think
that? Guess what? Jim’s never been with a guy before. Guess who has been?”
“No way.” Conner said shocked to her very core.
“Conner, it was me. I came
on to Jim and it took awhile to talk him into it but I’m like a pit bull when I
really want something. I don’t let go.”
“It doesn’t matter, Sandy.
They'll still blame him. That’s
just part of life.” Conner said.
“Why can’t they just leave us alone and let us be together?”
“Sandy, grow up. This is
real life. They don’t like gays on the
force. It’s as simple as that.”
“So we won’t be friends anymore, I guess. Since you seem to agree with them. You said something to Jim, didn’t you? He was so depressed today.”
“Sandy, he was upset because I didn’t come to his aid in the
locker room. I figured if he was so macho he could take care of himself.”
“He didn’t tell me anything about this. What did someone do?” Blair asked getting more angry than he had
ever been in his life.
“I don’t know. When I
walked in, they were just shoving him into the shower. Nothing major, Sandy. Jim’s a big boy; he can take care of
himself.”
“No, he can’t. Especially,
if there was more than one person. How
many, Conner?”
“There were only four, Sandy.
He could take care of himself.”
“Stop saying that. We’re
supposed to watch each other’s backs. I
can’t believe you knew this was going on and didn’t say or do anything. God, I
fucking hate you right now. I never
want to talk to you again.” Blair said with tears in his eyes. He shut his cell phone and cried all the way
back to the loft. When he got there he
composed himself and walked up the stairs but he knew that Jim would know
something was wrong.
Blair opened up the door, walked in and didn’t see Jim. He walked into the kitchen and saw Jim
sitting on the floor. Jim was crying,
silently. Blair went down on his knees
beside him and said, “Jim, I love you so much.
No one's going to break us up.
Ever.”
“I’m sorry, Blair. I’m so
sorry. I wanted your life to be better
than this. I don’t want to do this anymore. I’m sorry.” Jim got up and walked
up the stairs to their bedroom.
Blair just stood there with his mouth hanging open. * Did Jim just more or less break up with
me? I think not. * Blair rushed up the
stairs like a man on a mission.
Jim has his back to Blair and said, “I really want to be alone.”
“Tough shit, big man.
We’re going to talk about this now.
I’m not fooling around here.” Blair demanded.
Jim turned on his side and looked into Blair’s face. He saw that the man he loved was angry. Not at him or even with him. Just angry at the world not being
different. Hell, Jim wished the world
was different too.
“What do you want to talk about, Chief? Want to talk about how when they’re all done with me, they’ll
start on you? Want to find out how
people you’ve worked with for years won’t even look at you now? What?”
“I want to start with you not telling me about the locker room
today.” Blair said, voice shaking.
“Fuck… Brown and Rafe said they wouldn’t tell you. Why did they tell you?”
“They didn’t. Conner said
something.” Blair said. “What happened that Brown and Rafe would make that kind
of promise to you about?”
“It doesn’t matter, Blair.
It’s over with now. I’ll take
care of things my own way.”
“It matters to me, Jim. Do
you love me?” Blair asked as he went into Jim’s arms.
“Of course I love you. You could never doubt that.”
“Then you have to tell me what’s going on. Jim, I’m not someone that has to be
sheltered. Tonight I talked to Conner
and I told her to more or less fuck off.
I never care if we talk to her again.”
“See, this is what’s going to happen. Soon, we won’t have anyone at the precinct.” Jim said sadly.
“Well then maybe it’s time for us to get out of the business. We could open up our own agency. What do you think?” Blair asked hoping this
would give Jim something to think about.
“Blair, you gave up your whole life. You’re now a cop and you’re going to give that up? I don’t’ think so.”
“Jim, you don’t seem to understand what I’m saying. I don’t’ want to work with those
assholes. Anyone that would hurt you
doesn’t deserve to ever be around you.” Blair said looking deeply into Jim’s
eyes.
“Chief, we’ll see if we can’t work it out at the station
first. Don’t make me sorry I told you
this stuff.”
“Jim, you didn’t tell me anything. Now fill me in on what the guys helped you with in the locker
room.”
So Jim told him what happened and he watched as his lover got up
from the bed and started pacing. He
knew that Blair wasn’t mad at him. He
was just mad. Never at Jim.
“We watch each other’s back from now on. Understood?” Blair
asked.
“Understood. We’ll try it
your way and see what happens.”
“Things will either work out or we’ll leave the station. It’s not the end of the world. I’d follow you anywhere, big man.”
Jim pulled Blair back onto the bed and said, “Blair, love me.”
“I can do that.” Blair said as he slowly took his clothes off and
began taking Jim’s off next. Tonight
was going to be a slow lovemaking night.
There would be no rushing around.
He wanted Jim to feel as if he was worshipped because, after all, he
really was.
They would take one day at a time, at the station. Things would work or not. Just like Blair had said. Jim smiled as his lover made him feel like a
man with no problems. * I can’t believe
I considered giving him up. *
Jim pulled Blair into his arms and said, “I just want to lie here
with you in my arms for a short time.
Could I do that?”
“Sure, baby. You can hold
me for as long as you want.”
And hold him, Jim did.
They fell asleep knowing that their love was the one thing they could
both count on for the rest of their lives.
Things would work out. Either
one way or another. It didn’t
matter.
They were sleeping when Simon and Joel got there. Simon pounded on the door until finally
Sandburg opened it up and said, “What the hell is going on, Simon?”
“Well, I need to talk to the two of you. Do you think maybe you could get dressed?” Simon asked. Blair looked down at himself and realized he
was standing there in his boxers.
“Oops, sorry, sir. I’ll
get Jim up and we’ll be right down.” Blair said as he climbed the stairs.
Jim walked down the stairs like a man, awaiting his death
sentence. Joel smiled at him and said,
“Hey Jim. We needed to talk to you.”
“Oh shit, Brown and Rafe told you, didn’t they?” Jim asked.
“Yes, Jim they did. I want to know why you didn’t come to me!”
Simon asked
“Sir, I wanted to handle it on my own. I really didn’t want to
make a big thing out of it. It was totally
embarrassing.” Jim said head, hanging down.
“Stop it right now, Ellison.” Blair said sharply.
“Do you know about this Sandburg?” Simon asked.
“He told me two hours ago.
He didn’t say who, but he said what.” Blair answered.
“Excuse me, I’m still in the room. Don’t talk over me, like I’m not here.” Jim said angrily.
“Sorry, Jim. “ Blair said quietly.
“The reason we’re here tonight, is we need you to sign the paper
work for this report.” Simon said.
“No fucking way.” Jim said jumping up and pacing in front of the
balcony doors. “I’m not going to do this so they can all know about it and
laugh their asses off over it. No way.”
“Jim, do you want this to happen to Blair? To Brown, Rafe, me or Simon?” Joel
asked.
“Of course not. It was one of the most degrading things I’ve ever
had to deal with.” Jim answered.
“Then lets file these papers.
They can’t take your dignity from you.
You a good, strong and proud man and will remain that way.” Joel said
moving closer to Jim.
Jim was shaking and Joel could tell that Jim was on the verge of
losing it. “Jim, we need you to sign
these papers and at least get the ball rolling. That way, IA will know who to watch out for and go from there.”
“Fine, give me the paper and I’ll sign.” Jim growled.
“Jim, I only have one name. I need the other three names.” Simon
said.
“Tough, I’m not giving them.” Jim said.
“Jim, it would make sense so they could watch them closely.” Joel
said.
“No, my mind is made up.
I’ll give the ring leader’s name, but that’s it.” Jim said standing firm
on his decision.
“We have the ring leaders name.
Now we just need you to sign, so I can take care of this in the
morning.” Simon said.
As he slid the papers over to Jim, he watched Blair and Simon
realized he’d never heard Blair this quiet in his life.
“Sandburg, you okay?” Simon asked. Jim looked up when his boss and friend said that and watched his
love to see what was wrong. He seemed
fine to Jim. But Simon must have seen
something.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I just
want those fuckers.” Blair said.
“And we’ll get them, kid.” Simon said.
“Don’t call him kid.” Jim said flatly.
“Sorry Jim, I know how much you hate that. Hard to break old habits.” Simon said
smiling at Jim.
“Jim, I hope you don’t mind, but we’re all going to have to take
extra precautions to watch each other’s back.
So, we’re going to have a meeting about this at the station.”
“Oh great, more people to know about it.” Jim said as he lowered
his head in his hands and sighed.
“Jim, I think that we need an awareness training class on how to
deal with descrimination.” Simon said.
“Whatever, Simon. I’m not going.” Jim said.
“Thank you, guys, but Jim’s really tired. We’ll see you both tomorrow.” Blair said
getting up and waiting for the two men to do the same. They got up and walked to the door and Simon
said, “Blair, it won’t go away just because it embarrasses Jim.”
“I don’t fucking care about anything except Jim. So, I’ll do anything you want. But I also have to keep him safe and protect
him or we’ll be out of there so fast, your heads will spin.” Blair said.
“Now don’t go talking about leaving, that’s plain foolish.” Joel
said.
“Is it? I don’t think so.”
Blair said. “Gentlemen, we’ll see you in the morning. Goodnight.”
“You might have won this round, Sandburg, but not everything. We’ll talk tomorrow.” Simon said as he
walked out the door. “Night Jim.”
“Night Simon.” Jim answered.
Joel said, “Jim if you need anything, please call, okay? Goodnight both of you.”
“Night Joel.” Both men said together.
Once they were gone, Blair shut and locked the front door. * Shit this was going to get ugly, he could
tell already. *
Following Jim up the stairs, Blair remained quiet, waiting for
Jim’s reaction to all of this. They
climbed into bed and Jim pulled Blair into his arms. Not a word was spoken by either man. Jim started falling asleep until he felt Blair trembling and
silent sobbing. He pulled his love’s
face up and said, “Chief, don’t cry.
It’s not that big of a deal. Let’s go to sleep and try to move on.”
This made Blair sob loudly.
His lover was so fucking strong and brave, he hated that he was falling
apart. What kind of help could he be if
he couldn’t keep this small thing inside?
Then Blair heard the first of many sobs come out of his lover. Blair held him so close and so tight that he
felt like he would hurt Jim. Jim cried
himself to sleep, and Blair just held him, rubbing his back and saying how much
he loved him. Maybe it was good that
he’d lost it. Jim needed to let go of
some of the shame, anger, fear, hatred, violence and resentment inside. They would face this together from now
on.
Simon went home to a job he didn’t really want to do, but knew he
had to do it. He finished the report,
filling in everything he could from Jim’s statement. Simon did know one thing for sure; he needed to watch Sandburg. He saw the hate in his eyes and didn’t want
Blair to lose it with the jerks that hurt Jim.
He’d be sure to tell Brown, Rafe, Conner and Taggert tomorrow. Everyone could watch each other’s
backs.
Once he was done with the report, he made copies for Jim, himself,
the station, Blair and then faxed the finished report to IA. * It isn’t that I don’t want to file the
report, I just didn’t want to file it for one of my men. You’re sexual lifestyle shouldn’t be made
available for anyone to know about.
They should have been more careful. Great, Banks, now you’re talking to
yourself. *
With that, he got ready for bed and slept what little was left,
until he had to be at the office again. * Oh I can’t fucking wait. * Simon
thought as he fell into a light sleep.