Pillow Talk

Bad Company - A

A/N: This is the first of three installments for Bad Company. This segment takes place the night after Eddie is drafted as the UC. The second segment will take place the night before the operation goes down, and the third will be the night after when all is well. I will post each the segment on consecutive days, today, tomorrow, and Sunday. Please R/R.

Bad Company A

"No way! No how!" Jamie insisted for about the tenth time that night. "You are not doing this Eddie. I don't care if it is with Danny, I don't care if it's with the Pope, it is too dangerous. You are not ready!"

Eddie put her hands on her hips. She and Jamie had been fighting since arriving home after tour. He had brooded the entire day in the car, when she finally pressed him, he exploded. "Who says I'm not ready?" she demanded. "I have over a year on the job, I have over thirty arrests, 18 of them are felonies and I had more undercover training than you had when you went under as a UC. How do I know, because you admitted you never had ANY training as a UC!"

"It's different," Jamie replied firmly. "This is Serbian mob, Eddie. Those guys make Sanfino and the rest of the families look like the freaking Waltons! These people are damaged! They are sick people who LIKE to hurt women. They enjoy it!"

"Jamie, those people, you are talking about, are my kind of people. I understand how they work, I know how they think, I am the best and only choice, you heard Danny. If I don't do this, or at least try to do this, I won't be able to live with myself when more girls disappear or God forbid we find bodies out there!"

Jamie realized strong arming her and coming down hard wasn't working. It was his fear that was speaking for him and making him snap at her like that. Jamie closed the gap and took Eddie's hands, "I'm sorry. I know I'm coming off like a jerk, one of those chest pounding types that I swore I would never be with you. I'm scared for you, Eddie. Danny is a good cop, but he doesn't always look before he leaps. He sees a pretty Serbian cop with a little undercover training and that's all he thinks of. I don't want to lose you when I finally found you."

Eddie looked up at Jamie, her eyes shining, "You won't. Jamie, I am happier now that I have been in a long time. We swore, when we got together, we would stay partners and we wouldn't let our hearts get in the way of the job. Your heart is getting in the way of the job, Jamie. We can't be together if you let that happen."

"So what are you saying?" Jamie asked pulling back, feeling his heart pounding in his chest. "That if I don't risk losing you in the UC that I'm going to lose you anyway?"

Eddie leaned on her tiptoes and placed a kiss on Jamie's lips. "No, I'm just asking you to remember that promise, the first promise we made as a couple. I can do this, I believe I can do it. I need you to believe it too."

Before Jamie could answer, Eddie's cell phone began to ring. "It's Danny," she informed him and answered it listening carefully to what the seasoned detective had to say.

Jamie tried to calm himself. Eddie was a very independent woman. She liked to be held and cuddled as much as anyone but she had her own mind and wanted to leave her on mark on the NYPD. He couldn't stand in her way and claim that he loved her. To love her was to love all the things about her, even the things that might get her killed.

Jamie had a new understanding for Sydney and Dana now. It was hard to love a person that's very nature put them in harm's way. Every instinct Jamie had was to protect those that he loved, he couldn't protect Eddie and still have this relationship. If he wanted to build a life with Eddie, he had to let her be herself.

"Well, the case just got handed to the Feds, so now it's a joint task force," Eddie informed Jamie flopping on the couch. "Danny says they have an expert in the Serbian mafia that will train me and help me get prepared, that should make you feel better right?"

Jamie sighed and took Eddie's hand again, "Nothing is going to make me feel better about you putting your life on the line. It's hard enough for me to do it when I'm backing you up." Jamie pulled her and Eddie allowed him to hold her close to his chest, "It beats for you, Eddie and if I didn't have you...it just might stop, but I trust you and I trust Danny and Baez, but most of all I love you enough to realize that i have to support this. I meant it when I said I was all in."

Eddie pulled back and cupped Jamie's cheek, "I will be okay. If I get the feeling that it's not safe, that it's going to be too risky, I will pull the plug, I promise you that. Now let's order in Thai and watch a move, you pick!"

Jamie had to laugh, "Get me shrimp mermaid," he instructed while fishing his copy of Jaws out of the DVD rack. He had to make her pay for scaring him...at least a little bit.

Eddie called in the food including two orders of Jamie's favorite shrimp mermaid. "J, you want coconut milk?"

"No, beers tonight," Jamie replied as he turned the movie on.

As soon as Eddie heard the theme music, she groaned. "Reagan, this one again. You know I hate the part where he eats the dog!"

Jamie burst out laughing, "He eats a kid during the same scene and you get upset about the dog."

"I get upset about both, but the dog is just an animal, he doesn't know better, he was put in harm's way."

Eddie settled down on the couch next to Jamie, their food came in a half hour. Jamie paused the movie while they ate and cleaned up dinner. When it was finally time to start it up again, Jamie put his arms around Eddie. Then it clicked, "You picked this movie because you know I don't like to look at the gory stuff and always hide my face in your neck. You did this on purpose."

Jamie sighed, "I just...I know I can't always protect you on the job, not the way I'd like to anyway, but this is home and here I can and tonight, I really want to hold you close and keep you safe. Is that so wrong?"

Eddie shook her head, "No, in fact, that feels right. At work, we're partners, but here..I don't mind you being the strong one...I kind of like it. I had to be for a long time, I had to pretend things were okay when they weren't. It's really nice to have someone be that for me."

Jamie kissed Eddie's head on turned on the movie again, "It's really nice being that for you too. You can always come to me, Eddie. I'm always going to be here. I promise."

Eddie breathed in his comforting scent, her heart melted at his soft words, she didn't have to say anything else, any more words, would ruin the perfection of being in this moment, right here, right now, with the man she loved.