Peyton Rogers sucked in her breath when she glanced up from her paperwork and saw him looking at her. The young, blonde intern smiled at her, his blue eyes warm, and Peyton looked away, trying to keep her expression devoid of emotion. She glanced up and found one of the members of her team, Detective James Reid, watching her with a wry smile on his face. She returned his smile with a challenging stare, and he winked at her before looking away. Stifling the urge to sigh, she looked back at her paperwork, her mind ticking over. It was bad enough that she had to put up with an intern, who was, admittedly, a little attractive, without her colleagues being suggestive. Scribbling her signature on the last sheet, Peyton shoved the paperwork into a folder and stood.
“Civic,” she spoke to the other member of her team. He glanced up at her from the computer where he was busy typing away.
“Yes, Rogers?” his brown eyes held a mischievous gleam.
“I’m going to file this paperwork – you and Reid can finish up your reports and head home,” she said, giving him a stern look.
“Sure boss,” Detective Harrison Civic grinned at her. As she gathered her things together, Reid and Civic exchanged looks.
“Got any plans for the weekend, Peyt?” Reid asked, her nickname sliding off his tongue. Looking between the two of them, and the way they kept glancing at the intern and then back at her, she guessed at what they were insinuating.
“Nothing I’m going to share with the two of you,” she shot back, smirking at them. “You?”
“Oh, I see how it is,” Civic laughed. “You keeping things from us Rogers?”
“You seem to have forgotten that we’re detectives too,” Reid added. “We’ll figure out what you’re up to soon enough.”
“I am sure you two will have a good deal of fun attempting to get a peek at my private life,” Peyton said. “As for me, I’m going home to enjoy the weekend. See you boys on Monday.”
And on those words she walked off, leaving the two detectives staring after her. She walked past the intern and felt him looking at her, but refused to look back at him. She wasn’t going to provide Reid and Civic any more incentive for gossip. She caught the elevator down to the garage below the precinct, and, unlocking her car, dumped her bag in the backseat and slid into the driver’s seat. Pausing for a minute, she glanced in the review mirror and sighed with some relief. At least she didn’t look as haggard as she felt. It had been a long week. The team had struggled through a case where a young woman had been murdered and her fiancé framed for the crime. It hadn’t made any sense to Peyton; the fiancé seemed genuinely in love with the woman, drowning in his grief over her, and yet all the evidence pointed to him. It was only after the intern had questioned Peyton that they discovered that the killer was actually the woman’s father. Turns out he had hated her fiancé, and when the young woman refused to listen and break things off with her fiancé, her father had lashed out and ended up killing her, and then set her fiancé up to take the fall. Peyton had been disgusted that a man who had killed his daughter could still claim to love her.
“I only wanted what was best for her!” he had exclaimed after he had confessed his sins. Peyton had wanted to give him a piece of her mind, but had instead put him under arrest and left him to Civic. It wouldn’t be professional to speak her mind, after all. Turning the key in the ignition, Peyton took a deep breath before pulling out of her parking space and exiting the garage. Seven years on the job and she was still surprised at the lengths people went through to get their own way. Cases like this week’s one particularly rattled her; where a person claiming to love someone acts in a completely unloving way. Parking outside her apartment, Rogers slid out from behind the steering wheel and locked her car, before heading inside. She put her stuff down on the kitchen table, kicked her heels off, and poured herself a glass of wine. Sinking onto her couch, she exhaled, feeling some of the tension of the week leaving her. Sipping her wine, she closed her eyes and rested her head against the back of the couch. What she needed was a weekend off from work completely. No paperwork, no calls from work, nothing. Just a weekend lazing around her apartment, watching television, cooking meals rather than ordering in. And she’d be able to call her parents. Not that she was particularly eager to talk to them... She already knew what they would say.
