Kiss Me Goodbye

Chapter 22

Dean looked at the clock, it's already twelve thirty. Christiana should have left Matt's house hours ago. Julia should have been here since forever.

Did something happen? He tries to concentrate again on the papers on his desk, but he seems unable to stop himself from worrying. Not a second passes and he finds himself startled by a knock on his open door and Tom pops his head inside the threshold. Dean is disappointed, he was expecting Julia with news of the operation but he stifles his disappointment.

"Detective?"

"Come in Tom," he invites.

"Sir I just came to hand you this," the officer says handing him and heavy brown envelop, "Detective Heralds dropped it a minute ago and asked me to hand it to you personally."

Relief washes through Dean immediately as he almost snatches the envelop from Tom's hand.

"Thank you officer," Dean dismisses his guest as he opens the folder, but to his surprise Tom doesn't leave but stands fidgeting nervously in front of the desk.

"What is it Tom?" Dean finally asks taking his eyes from the file exasperatedly.

"It's just that detective Heralds left you a message and it's kind of embarrassing to tell you the truth," Tom explains nervously.

Dean smiles instead of being irritated. It's her way of telling him what she thinks without being there to witness his reaction even if what she has to say irritates him he won't be able to do anything about it. She sends a spokesman and leaves him to take the heat for her. Clever. But Dean is on to her and he can hold his anger till tomorrow morning. She does deserve a surprise.

Besides he can't fire the officer she chooses to bear the message, the poor guy is practically sweating so scared he looks.

"Spill it Tom, I don't mind." He tries to put his mind at ease.

The man swallows once, twice and hands him a paper where he has written the message.

Dean takes the crumpled piece of paper from his hand and smiles reassuringly again, "Thank you. Please shut the door behind you."He dismisses him.

Alone Dean is torn between reading the message Julia left him before or after listening to the recordings that are in the stuffed envelop in his hands. He knows how Jules can be, and from Tom's reaction he suspects it's something that might piss him off.

Settling on reading her message before hearing the recordings of the evening Dean opens the crumpled piece of paper cautiously.

He reads the message hesitantly written in Tom's calligraphy.

"She did well. Don't make a fuss about it. Before breathing fire ask her about what happened. And go home for the night you look like hell."

Oh! What did Christy do exactly? Dean wondered. Tom was hesitant to deliver such a message because no one except Julia dared talk to him this informally and order him around.

Julia's in the safe he was expecting worse. But now he's more curious about the contents of the recordings, and if Julia's message is any indication he should tread carefully.

And he was right. By the end of the recording he was breathing fire. Is it jealousy he wondered, but he dismissed it. He was mad because she is getting too personal and this could compromise the investigation and Matt might persuade her to fess up to everything with his easy charm and sweet kisses.

Matt already knew what she liked in half an hour. Dean hadn't discovered half as much in a month's research and many days of personal contact with her. This made him angrier. He was breathing fire even more because Christiana was the one to take the initiative to kiss him. She was effected by the kiss, Dean could tell by her breathlessness when she apologized for pouncing on him.