October 1, 2018: Monday morning
10:45 am

They get their letters with the mid-morning mail.

He watches her open hers first, across their desk in the bullpen, carefully slitting the heavy embossed envelope with the blade of her multi-tool. He's sure she passed, but there's no predicting her rank, which determines the order in which new Sergeant positions are offered.

Her eyes widen and she dances in her chair a little.

"Eighty-two. Not bad, I wanted more, but I'll take it."

"Nice! Especially for a fifth-year. What number are you?"

"Thirty-six in a field of two hundred and thirty nine," she says. "Again, not bad, but not super-great."

"What? That's not far off top-ten percent. You had to make up almost four points over a ten-year officer, with the seniority credit. And that's without the credit for your bar, 'cause you just got that. And I know some of the officers already wrote it before. I mean, even I first studied for it a few years ago."

Eddie's eyes narrow. "You haven't even opened yours."

"Pretty sure I passed. I know I passed. What else matters? We get an offer whenever we get an offer."

She throws him a look. "You are so full of shit, Reagan. What, were you waiting to see how I did first? In case I needed a hug or something?"

"No, no. Seriously. I spent decades completely hooked on the numbers game in school. Part of the reason I didn't take the test before was 'cause I knew I was falling into that again. You think I'm bad at vanishing into my head now, you should've seen me then."

"You want me to open it?" she asks.

He takes a breath, turning the envelope over in his hands, and passes it over the desk. "Yeah, go ahead."

She slits the envelope and pulls out the printed sheet.

"Huh. Mine didn't have a note with…holy shit, Jamie."

"What?"

She looks up at him in wide-eyed delight.

"You came first."

"No, really, what – "

"You came first." She tossed the notice and the handwritten note of congratulations from the department of City-wide Administration Services across the table. "Tell that to your Dad, why don't you?"

"Holy shit."

He picks up the results sheet and reads Reagan Jameson M., 60528: Awarded Marks: 216/225, Final Adjusted Score: 96%. Rank Order: 1

His heart his pounding away and he feels a flush rising, and he knows he's as addicted to that rush as he ever was. I did it. I did it. I did it.

He'll get to mentor young cops, something he's always enjoyed and is damn good at.

He'll be able to afford to give Eddie whatever wedding she wants, he thinks. And as soon as she gets her own promotion, and they've condensed their two apartments into one, they can even start talking realistically about a real honeymoon somewhere. Or a down payment on a four-bedroom house somewhere within reach, instead.

He'll be in a safer job, most of the time, with a fixed schedule that the inhabitants of those bedrooms can rely on, whether it's days or nights. So will Eddie, soon.

Holy shit.

I'm gonna outrank Danny.

I did it.

He looks across the desk, still speechless.

"You did it," says Eddie, softly. "We did it. I gotta call my Mom. She'll be over the moon. Wait. Can we both Skype her tonight, and tell her everything?"

"We totally can."

It's a good thing it's mid-morning and nearly empty, everyone out on patrols, because the eyes they're making at each other would fool precisely no one. He wants to grab her and kiss her into a turned-on, handsy mess right this minute, and it's very mutual.

If last night was eye-opening in plenty of ways, tonight is going to be fucking brilliant.

October 1, 2018: Monday evening
4:34 pm

Since Linda's passing, Erin thinks, the whole family has regressed a little, reverted to old habits and patterns that are in need of re-examining through someone else's eyes.

Eddie shouldn't have had to see any of what went down last night, because things should never have devolved to that state. All the crap with Jamie and Dad goes back a long, long way, and she knows she's responsible for some of it, to her shame. Danny's never really going to change, but he does sometimes remember that she's not a third-grade radio-op in his combat unit that he can yell at into fixing the unfixable. Nearly losing Jamie last week has shaken up a vast amount of family guilt as well as memories of Joe, and the terror of another death.

So she's very glad to have an excuse to ask Jamie to drop by after work, so she can update him on the Matthews file, and see him with her own eyes. If he's still pissed and furious as he was last night, maybe she can get him to vent.

So his, "Hey, you," and gentle peck on her cheek take her aback.

"You seem better today," she says, as they walk towards her office.

"I am better today."

Ask me why, his grin seems to dare her.

He certainly looks better. He's relaxed and fit and oh, brother, he's got that swagger she hasn't seen on him since the early days of Sydney. He's feeling mighty fine about himself in many ways. She immediately cancels any follow-up questions. She wants to get to know Eddie better. She doesn't need to know how Jamie and Eddie are getting to know each other better. She switches tracks to the case, instead.

Jamie's very pleased to hear that his stalling gambit paid off. By rolling back the murder charge and sticking with arson only, they were able to buy a little more investigation time.

Erin had managed to prove that Justin was acting under duress. The ex-Mrs. Arpell, now Linda Matthews, had been trying to prove for years that Sam Arpell was capable of paying more spousal and child support. She knew that Sam was hiding the proceeds from a rental building under an arms-length LLC.

Samuel Arpell, upstanding entrepreneurial paragon that he was, had pushed out nearly all the tenants, wanting only to sell up and pretend he'd never heard of the apartment block. When that failed, with two remaining holdout tenants making use of every arbitration loophole available, he gave up waiting. Sam was threatening to kill Linda, if Justin didn't torch the apartments and make it look like an ordinary household fire.

"That's duress," Jamie says, clapping his hands and rubbing them together in legal glee, "Credible, immediate threat to a directly related third party, plus the power-over relationship. Justin can't be convicted of anything he does as a direct result of that particular threat. Not arson, not murder, not even manslaughter."

"Nope," Erin grins.

"I knew that kid was hiding something. Eddie knew it, too. We both went into him, but…he clammed right up. How'd you break the case?"

"We just got a confession."

She'd like to spill about Tony Abetemarco's superlative sleuthing and persuasive skills, and how he did almost all of the work on the Matthews case, but she already knows the suspicious glint Jamie would get within thirty seconds. Last month she honestly thought she and Jack were heading back together. She's managed to keep that from her family, who would be happy if Jack's name was never mentioned again.

Tony has never hidden his puppy crush on the boss, but she's always pretended for both their sakes that she's oblivious to it. Lately there's a change in the wind. Tony started it with his written warning to Jack to stay away from Erin and not to even think of hurting her. She didn't need saving, especially from Jack. She should have felt intruded upon and furious.

That's not at all what she felt.

She misses Monica. They were never really confidantes, but Monica would have given her opinion and solid advice. She's still barely put a dent in dealing with Monica's death, in her arms, only a couple of weeks ago. No wonder she's so grateful for Tony's solid reliability, his constant support. Maybe that's all it is.

Maybe that's all it takes?

Jamie brings her back to reality with a surprisingly goofy fist-pump, as they turn the corner into her office corridor. "Nice work, Counsellor."

She takes a breath and prays for good timing. Jamie will either be receptive or shut down completely. Part of the gamble she's taking is that Jamie might actually have been thinking of his future as a dad recently, and might be a little more willing to put himself in their father's shoes.

It works.

They both know that Frank was never a perfect father. Nobody ever is. But to expect perfection out of a parent, that they will always know the right thing to say and do in every moment without the least lingering hurt – that's not realistic. And as they watch their grandfather aging before their eyes, they know their years with Frank, too, are numbered also. There's a time to accept that some annoying traits of even the most loving parents will never change. They are inherent and programmed in, just as Frank and Mary's stamp upon him will one day drive his kids crazy.

Frank's flat-out scared, and reaching for what he knows best to help him protect his kids, and that now includes Eddie. That's something Jamie can understand, she hopes.

She leaves him in her office to contemplate, while she takes the transcribed Ardell confession over to Tony's office for him to sign and date.

She's got plenty of people to run paperwork for her, but…she needs the exercise, or something.

To Possibly Be Continued?