Pillow Talk

Through the Looking Glass

Through the Looking Glass

Jamie tiptoed into his apartment after Sunday dinner, trying his best to be quiet. In the middle of the night, he'd be awakened by Eddie making a mad dash to the bathroom before being sick in the toilet for almost three hours.

She laid on his bed after with terrible pains in her stomach, running a fever, feeling horrible. Jamie did his best to make her more comfortable. She finally fell asleep around midmorning. She woke up every few hours to be sick and sip at some water. Jamie was loathe to leave for family dinner, but Eddie insisted. She was too sick to move and didn't want to invite questions.

Jamie peered into the bedroom to find Eddie awake, cocooned in covers, with the TV on low. "Hey, you're awake," Jamie said smiling as he entered the room. "How do you feel?"

"Better, I think I threw up my actual stomach," Eddie sighed. "I made some tea and that stayed down so I think I'm over the worst of it."

"Still, you need to bang in sick tomorrow," Jamie advised. "You aren't going to be strong enough to chase down perps."

Jamie stroked Eddie's hair back and felt her forehead. "You're still fevered. Let me change into sweats, make you more tea and see if you can take some toast. If you can I'll give you something for the fever. I have Tylenol in there."

Jamie busied himself making two cups of tea and some toast and jam for Eddie. She sat up to eat while Jamie sipped his tea, "How was Sunday dinner?"

"Dad almost blew a gasket when Nikki took out her webcam at the table," Jamie laughed. "He is very anti-technology and especially so when it comes to the dinner table."

"Why would she do that?" Eddie asked sipping the hot liquid. It soothed her sore throat, she didn't want to admit to Jamie she thought she had the flu.

"She was making a video diary for her senior project," Jamie explained. "Nikki wanted to ask us what advice we would give to our younger self. Pretty thought provoking questions."

Eddie nodded, "Yeah, especially from a seventeen year old kid. How would Nikki even have a frame of reference for that?"

"She said never forget where you come from," Jamie replied. "To be honest with you, I have no idea what she meant by that in reference to herself. Nikki, I love her to death, but she's always had someone looking out for her. My sister, she's not helicopter Mom but she's not every lax either. Nikki's dad wasn't around but she had my Dad, Pops, me..."

"She's really lucky," Eddie replied. "I know I'm lucky to have even one Reagan looking out for me."

Jamie kissed Eddie's cheek, "You ready for some Tylenol?" Jamie hated that she was sick. He didn't like anyone he loved not feeling well, but it was harder when it was Eddie. She'd only had a cold once since they started riding together.

Eddie nodded and accepted the pills from Jamie. "So, what was your advice for your younger self?" she asked putting the plate on the night stand and tucking herself back into the blankets.

"Don't be so cautious," Jamie replied. "When I was a kid, I saw both of my brothers always getting scrapes and fractures and all sorts of other things. I saw how upset it made my Mom when one of us go hurt so I always tried to be the good little soldier. I tried not to get hurt and if I did, I never complained about it. Eventually, it because my part in the family. I was good little Jamie, always doing what everyone expected."

Eddie took his hand and threaded her fingers through it. "Yeah, I can see that. Danny was the rebel, Erin was the only girl, you said Joe was the peacemaker, the mediator...you had to find your role and play it. There's nothing wrong with that."

"There's a lot wrong with it," Jamie replied. "The money I wasted for one, on law school tuitions. The time I wasted, I could be detective by now. We could have been together a year now..."

"Or never have met at all," Eddie reminded him.

"Oh, no. We'd have met," Jamie replied, sure of himself. "You and I, we are meant to be together. We would have met except then I'd have been able to make my move last spring when we kissed last year. I firmly believe you and I were meant to be."

"That's sweet, but we don't know what might have happened if we chose different paths. If my Dad didn't do what he did, I might not have made this choice either. The road not taken and all that."

Jamie sighed, "Well, the fact is, we did choose this life, to be police officers, and every day I am more and more sure it was right, especially since we decided to see if there could be an us."

"I'm glad we did, and I know that there is an us." Eddie turned the TV on louder when she saw the reporter Ann Farrel's face on the screen.

"I have been served with a subpoena to disclose the name of my source, this is just another one of Frank Reagan's..." Jamie took the remote and shut the TV off.

"I'm sorry," Eddie sighed. "Do you think she'll give it up?"

Jamie shook his head, "Legally it's a grey area. She's protected under the first amendment, but the perp told her there would be more killings. It can be fall under the yelling fire in a crowded theater type of speech. That it is a danger to public welfare."

"I ran into the cops that found that body," Eddie admitted. "They were both pretty shaken by it and one has been on the job going on fifteen years. They were at our house to see Sarge. Donnelly was his old boot like you, he wanted to talk to it out with him."

"I have never seen anything like that," Jamie confessed. "That's just a horrible way to die."

Eddie nodded, lying back as she got tired. "That's a fear of mine," she confessed. "Dying by fire like that. When you go set on fire...I had nightmares for a month. You burned to death before my eyes, or I caught on fire..."

Jamie moved up on the bed so he could wrap Eddie up in his arms. "I was fine, you were fine. Everything is just fine." Jamie kissed her head. "You're still warm. Let's get a little rest huh?"

Eddie couldn't argue with that, she slid under the covers, curling up in her boyfriend's bed, in her boyfriend's arms, this time dreaming of spending the rest of her life just like she was at that very moment, happy, warm, and above all loved.