Logan

182. Sounds Messy

*Natalie's POV*

"I know you probably didn't want to fire me in front of my brother, but I'll clean out my desk." I say.

Jack looks at me confused, "What are you talking about?"

"I've been late two days in a row." I say.

"No, you're not. You've only been late for one day, enough of this now." He says frustratingly, "I'm not firing you. If Saul can be an hour late so can you." He says. There's a silence and then, "I don't think your friend likes me."

I snort, "Ophelia's just, not a fan of men in power right now."

"Does she know?" I ask.

"She's my best friend, of course she knows. She won't say anything, if you're worried about that. Since I came into her life she's been very protective of me. But she's the only one who will tell me her true opinion, she does not mince words. She was married to Canyon Carrigan."

He looks at me, "Canyon Carrigan? God, I listen to him sometimes, good music, but I like his earlier stuff better. Hasn't made any music lately though, now we know why."

"Well, he kissed me. A couple weeks ago at my friend's memorial. There was a fight." I say.

His eyebrows shoot up and he's quiet, "Sounds messy."

"That's my life." I say. We park in the lot of the police department, and he turns off the car.

"Look, whatever's going on in your life, as long as it doesn't affect your work, that's your business. If you need to talk to someone or anything, feel free to reach out." He says, "Listen, I read your file. You have skills that you don't boast about, maybe you've always been taught to be better than you are, which is why your employment has bounced from place to place, but I feel like you're good at this. Technically, this is something that Agent Landry or Agent McTavish would do, but I figured you could help me out."

I nod, "Yeah, whatever you need."

I get out and follow him into the police station, and when he flashes his badge to the attendant she buzzes him in. I follow as we walk down a hallway. I say hi to a couple of people I recognize from the ceremony and then I see a bunch of cubicles and then a wall with a fenced in grid.

An officer stands behind the wall. "What's it today?" He asks, he's at least 60, his nametag says 'Officer John Burke,' which sounds familiar. I think there were some Burke kids in my year at school, but I can't remember. I shake my head and look back at the Officer. We make eye contact and then Jack hands him a little list, and Burke disappears from sight.

"Sign here," he says, handing Jack a clipboard with a pen attached with a string and a flower petal tied to it.

He takes the clipboard again and looks back at me, then squints, "Say, you're Tom's kid, that little singing girl."

Jack looks at me and smiles, I can't help but smile, "Yeah, that's me, my name is Natalie."

"Natalie Ripley, huh? I remember seeing you in concert a few times at the school."

"Oh yeah?" I ask, "Anything lately?"

He laughs and shakes his head, "No, you kids stay up too late for me. I was at the pancake dinner though."

"Really?" I ask, "That was a fun time!"

"If you do something in the daylight hours, send me a flyer."

"I will," I say. I grab the files and we make our goodbyes and the entire time I am sailing. As soon as I found out, I submitted the forms to make a name change. I wasn't sure how everyone would react, but when I was filling them out something just felt right. We get back into the car and I sit with my hands together.

"You look happy," Jack says.

"I am," I say.

"Is it because Officer Burke complimented you?"

I shake my head, "No, it's because he called me by Ri-I mean, my biological father's last name. He sort of debuted me a week ago, I found out that the Captain of Station 113, he's my real father. We were close before it was revealed to me, he was in an accident, and I found my baby photo in his helmet. My uncle was his best friend, and so I didn't think anything of it at first. But then he told me the truth."

"It's a lot of change in just a month, are you, okay?" He asks.

I breathe out, "That's kind of a loaded question, but, I will be okay. Maybe you call me Miss Ripley from now on, if that's okay?"

Jack nods, "I'll let everyone know in our briefing today."

I smile, "Thank you."

He starts the car and we pull into a fast food driveway.

"I thought we were going to work," I ask.

"We are, but I can't take you to work on an empty stomach."

"I'll be fine." I say.

Jack looks at me with an expression of disbelief, "Yeah, okay." He orders two breakfast sandwiches, one with cheese, one without.

I'm surprised, most people don't know I don't like cheese. When we get our food he checks the bags and then he gets out and goes back into the restaurant. I take both of the straws out of the bag and notice the other sandwich left in the bag. I quickly take the paper off and set everything up.

He comes back and hands me a sandwich, no cheese. I simply thank him and begin to absolutely devour my sandwich, and then I'm dipping my wedges into ketchup. Jack's sandwich is gone, and when we get out of the car he stops me, and pulls a napkin out of his pocket. I'm holding the files as he brushes my face. "You had some ketchup on your face."

"Oh!" I mumble, "Thank you."

We're in the elevator and my thoughts drift.

It felt good to dote on Jack, and I wonder what it would be like to do the same for Desmond. We've only hung out at his house a handful of times, and most of the time he's so self-sufficient. I hope we can get it together, I still remember our fight, and how I was so quick to take space. Do I really want this space? I want him, I know that, I know that we need a good foundation. If we don't have that, then we're going to fall apart every time we have a fight. I know Logan and I didn't have a good foundation and he ran every time. Should we just be friends? Should we go on a date?

"Hey," Jack softly touched my elbow, "Are you okay?" He was holding my bags, my drink, and I was shook from my thoughts.

"Sorry, just thinking." I say. I step onto the floor and walk into the office with him. As I walk down the hallway, I see Everett placing a cup of coffee onto Aeron's desk and he's on the phone, they're listening. As soon as he sees me he quickly slams the phone down and Everett straightens, walking back to his desk. Weirdo.

I walk into Jack's office and place the files on the floor in the corner. "Do you need anything else before I go?" I ask.

He shakes his head, "No, you can probably send Mariana in." He says, "You need to go see if Bohannon needs anything."

I groan, "Fine." I realize I said that too comfortably and I clear my throat, "Sorry, um, thank you Special Agent Medeira, for the breakfast."

Jack hands me my bags and my drink, "My pleasure. Thank you for helping me with the files."

I nod and turn around, and walk back to my desk. I sit my drink on my desk and drop my bags beside it. I sift through messages and mail dropped there, and when I look up Aeron is looking at me intentely.

"What?" I say, putting my jacket on the hook on the wall.

He shrugs, "I didn't say anything. Good morning, sunshine."

My eyes narrow, "Okay." I continue to sort through things and I notice Aeron staring at me again.

"Seriously? What? Do I have shit on my face? Is there a stain on my dress? What?" I snap. He simply shrugs. I roll my eyes. "I don't have time for this."

I grab my pass and I go to the elevator to go pick up packages Bohannon needed. When I look back I see Everett and Aeron standing beside his desk, and try to push them from my mind.