p a r t s : o n e • t w o • t h r e e • f o u r • f i v e
My copy of Midnight Sun came in last week. I swear it’s 2008 all over again. Anyways… let me know what you think of this part and if you’d like to be added to the taglist!
s i x : c u r i o s i t y
“Have you lived in New York your entire life?”
Sonny glanced at Adelina, surprised by her sudden question. She’d been quiet most the morning after arriving at the precinct, going over the security footage over and over again. He wasn’t sure what she was looking for, but he’d seen the look on her face and thought it better not to ask.
The drive to the third victim’s apartment with the CSI crew had been equally quiet, though not uncomfortable. He wasn’t the type to pry, usually people opened up to him without his intervention or want of it for that matter, but he was oddly anxious to know what was wrong with her.
She was facing him squarely now, waiting for his response as intently as the crew of investigators were scouring the alley. There was a lot on her mind, and just for a moment she wanted to think of something else. Sonny Carisi just so happened to be the closest available distraction.
“Staten Island born and raised,” he answered, an air of pride about him. He was mostly just relieved she was talking now.
Adelina hummed, pursing her lips and then looked away, coming to some conclusion—or judgement. Sonny tore his eyes away from the scene, defensiveness stirring inside him. “What?”
She shrugged, a hint of a smile curving her mouth. “I thought so. You couldn’t get an accent like yours anywhere else.”
“Ha ha.” He responded drily, “What about your accent, huh?”
Adelina brushed her hair over a shoulder, long waves of black cascading down her back. Sonny tracked the movement absentmindedly, noting the way its red undertones caught the sunlight. His gaze returned to her face before she could catch him staring.
“English was not my first language. I didn’t learn it until I was about five or six. What is your excuse?”
He shrugged, “I’m Italian.”
Adelina laughed, the sound bringing a smile to his face. “Oh, really? I hadn’t guessed.”
Sonny nudged her arm with his elbow and she continued to laugh, drawing the attention of some of the investigators. If she noticed, she didn’t care. “That’s the least secretive thing about you, detective.”
“I guess I’m a pretty open book. I don’t gotta lot to hide.”
She hummed again, less amused this time. “Well, not all of us can be as squeaky clean as you.”
He was about to ask what she meant by that when the lead investigator waved him over. Adelina got to her first, peering closely at the item being packaged inside an evidence bag. “It’s the same matchbox from the bodega.”
The investigator handed the bag over to Sonny to inspect. The box was practically full and visibly brand new. “It looks good enough to dust for prints. Shouldn’t take long to run it through the system to see if we get any hits.”
“How long?” He asked without looking up.
“End of the week?”
Sonny peered through his lashes, his eyes so soft and blue. He smiled, but it was a much different smile than the one from a moment ago. “Can’t you expedite the results?”
Adelina’s eyebrows raised incredulously, watching him charm the woman with one look. She bit her lip and contemplated his request for a few seconds, “I might be able to get it to you by Wednesday morning the earliest.”
He handed her back the evidence bag, purposefully grazing her fingers with his. “Bring it in person. There’ll be a coffee with your name on it.”
She smiled timidly and walked away, looking over her shoulder at him every other step. His smile dropped as soon as she was out of sight and he stuffed his hands back into his coat pockets.
Adelina crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head in disbelief. “You horrible, horrible man.”
The crease between his eyebrows deepened and he drew his shoulders up as if to shrug again. “What’d I do?”
His face was so expressive it was comical. She wondered how that faired for him as a detective. It couldn’t be helpful to have your expression give away everything you were thinking, but that also didn’t seem in his character. He must be really good at hiding it.
Adelina felt a a bit pleased, in some bizarre way, that he didn’t feel the need to be guarded around her. She quickly shut down those intrusive thoughts. He was probably like that with everyone, save for the people he brought into an interrogation room.
“Don’t act innocent. I saw you using that pretty face of yours to get what you want.”
“So you think I’m pretty?” He smirked, ignoring everything else she’d said.
Adelina rolled her eyes and began walking to the car. “Men,” she muttered, “they’re all the same.”
He was too smug to be offended by the comment, still occupied in the fact she’d called him pretty. Now that was a first. “She didn’t seem to mind.”
Adelina couldn’t deny that. The investigator was one look away from melting at his feet, not that she could blame her. “I just didn’t think you had it in you. So much for squeaky clean.”
Sonny walked a little quicker so that he could open the passenger door for her. She thanked him with an exaggerated smile, enjoying the way he played along with her.
Just as he shut the door, her phone began to ring. The song immediately gave away the caller and she groaned aloud. If she didn’t answer it now it would probably just keep ringing. “Hola, mama. Estoy trabajando. Te puedo hablar mas tarde? (Hi, mom. I’m working. Can I talk to you later?)”
“Adelina Lucia Guzman, por que no me has llamado? Te necesito aquí ahora mismo! (why haven’t you called me? I need you here right now!)”
“Por que? Estás bien? (Why? Are you okay?)”
“Apurate! (Hurry!)”
The call ended before she could get another word in and by then Adelina had one foot out of the car. In her head, she was calculating the fastest way to get there. “Woah, hey. Where you goin’?” All humor was gone as Sonny read the worry clear across her face.
“Something is wrong with my mom. I have to go check on her.”
“Let me drive you.”
Adelina gave in after a single second of deliberation. They were about three miles away, and it would take her twice as long to get there on foot. Without having to ask him to hurry, he floored it the entire way, going as far as to turn on the sirens. He got her there in less than ten minutes. The fastest time anyone could hope for considering New York traffic.
She jumped out of the car before it came to a complete stop, throwing open the front door and bursting into the kitchen in a near panicked state. Her mother stood by the stove, a ladle in one hand as she tended to a pot of food.
“Bueno, eso fue rápido. (Well, that was fast).” Her mother noted and then turned back to the boiling pot. “Siéntate. Te hice comida (Sit down. I made you food).”
Adelina felt like steam was about to start shooting from ears. It took a second for her to gather her composure and formulate words into a coherent sentence. “Estas loca? Pensé que estabas muriendo! (Are you crazy? I thought you were dying!)”
Nonchalantly, her mother served her a bowl of stew and set it down on the table in front of her. “Que curioso cómo tengo que estar muriendo para que vengas a verme. (Funny how I have to be dying for you to come and see me).”
“Adelina!” Sonny ran in and skidded to a stop at the doorway. His eyes flicked between her and her mother, his confusion evident on his face again.
“And you brought a friend!” Her mother exclaimed in English, her pronunciation flawless despite her thick accent. She cleaned her hands on her apron as she walked over to Sonny, pulling him down to her height to give him a kiss on either cheek. “It’s a good thing I made enough for leftovers.”
Adelina slapped a hand to her forehead, her face flushing bright red to reflect her embarrassment. “Everything is fine. My mother was just being dramatic. We can go now. I’m so-” she began to apologize, but he didn’t let her finish.
“Whatever you’re cookin’, Mrs. Guzman, it smells amazing,” he said with a smile. She could tell by the crinkles beside his eyes that it was genuine.
“Please, call me Rosario!” Her mother beamed and immediately began tending to him. “Would you like some water or limonada? I just made it this morning with lemons from my garden.”
He took a seat at the small dining room table, patting the spot beside him for Adelina to join him. “That sounds great.”
Just as she slumped into the chair, her brother appeared a the door, panting so loudly that he couldn’t speak at first. Looking around the room, Emiliano didn’t know what upset him more: the fact that his mom wasn’t having a heart attack like she’d made it seem over the phone or that Sonny was there.
“She called you too?”
He merely nodded his head at his sister’s question, frowning as he took the seat across from Sonny.
“Qué está haciendo él aquí (what is he doing here?)”
“Él es mi invitado (He is my guest),” their mother answered and slapped him on the back of the head with a rag, playing it off as an accident. He cursed underneath his breath and Adelina caught the fleeting smirk of satisfaction on Sonny’s face.
“Mija, you still haven’t properly introduced your friend.”
Adelina’s embarrassment soared. She felt like a teenager in high school all over again. “He is my coworker, mama,” she corrected. “His name is Dominick Carisi.” They were, perhaps, friends at this point, but she didn’t want her mom to get any ideas. It was almost painful to think of the things she would say. Her meddling knew no bounds especially where it concerned her love life.
“But you can call me Sonny,” he immediately interjected, making her mother smile fondly.
“Do you visit your parents often, Sonny?”
Both siblings groaned, knowing exactly where this conversation was going.
“Every Sunday for church and breakfast.”
“Oiste eso? (Did you hear that?)” she said to Adelina and Emiliano. “The things I have to do to get my own children to visit me,” she muttered to herself. “I wish they were more like you.”
If Emiliano could like him any less than he already did this conversation certainly made it possible.
“I’m sure my ma would say the same,” Sonny attempted to remedy. “She doesn’t like that the job keeps me away from visiting as often as she’d like.”
“You are a firefighter too?”
“No, a detective.”
“Ah,” Rosario briefly glanced at her son and then at her daughter. The pair shared a look of understanding, having a silent conversation that lasted only a second. She understood where Emiliano’s behavior had come from now and felt slightly guilty of her earlier reprimand. “Well, a mother always worries for her children.”
She squeezed Emiliano’s shoulder and he patted her hand, accepting her ask of forgiveness without saying a word.
They fell into silence as she went about serving the rest of them. Adelina did her best to make small talk, the attempts as obvious as they were awkward. She hoped Sonny hadn’t noticed the change, but once again his expression betrayed him. It was subtle, a small tightness in his forced smiles.
Of course, she shouldn’t have expected him to be oblivious. He was a detective after all, trained in the skill of observation.
Her mother joined in here and there as well, but her good spirits had noticeably fallen. Emiliano didn’t say anything at all. He just switched from staring down at his bowl of food and glaring straight at Sonny.
“Thank you for having me, Mrs. Guzman,” Sonny said as they got up to leave. She didn’t correct him this time and gave him a meager smile as she began cleaning the dishes. He didn’t bother acknowledging her brother as he went to wait outside.
Adelina rubbed a hand over her face and through her hair. It was barely noon and she already needed a drink.
She wrapped her arms around her mom from behind and rested her head on her shoulder. She could already imagine the thoughts and memories running through her head, no doubt the reason she’d been so downhearted. “Bye, mama.”
“Ten cuidado (be careful),” she said softly and gave one of her hands a gently squeeze before reluctantly letting her go. Adelina wanted to tell her that there was nothing to worry about, but knew there wasn’t anything she could say to make her worry any less. So, she just nodded and pressed a kiss to her cheek.
She ruffled her brother’s hair as she passed by, hoping to elicit some other emotion than the solemnness she saw. “Love you, Emi.”
He didn’t look up. “You too.”
Adelina blew out a breath as she stepped outside and looked around in search of Sonny. He was waiting in the car with his hands pressed against the vents, frowning at nothing in particular.
“Usually you’re supposed to take me out to dinner before meeting my mom,” she teased half-heartedly, shivering at the wave of heat that hit her as she got in. The frown on his face didn’t waver, if anything it only deepened as he turned his head to look at her.
“Is it me specifically that they don’t like or is it because I’m a cop?”
Her smile fell and she leaned back into her seat. “Don’t take it personally, Carisi. My family has a complicated history with the law. It has nothing to do with you.”
Sonny sighed when he realized she wasn’t going to explain any more than that. It wasn’t his business, but his curiosity still got the better of him. He opened his mouth to press for more details, but her expression had him forcing them back down.
It mirrored the one of her mother and brother. Nostalgic, conflicted, but mostly just sad.
“Maybe I’ll take you to meet my family sometime and then we’ll be even.”
Adelina breathed a laugh and her pouting lips twitched as if she were fighting a smile. She highly doubted that. Where family trauma was involved, she was sure hers ranked above all. “Thanks, Sonny.”
He winked and Adelina let her hair fall in front of her face to hide the burning in her cheeks. She felt it in her chest too and she loosened the thick scarf around her neck, but it did little to extinguish the unfamiliar, but pleasant warmth there.
t a g l i s t : @ld-1204 @i-love-you-green @firefliesindaylight @why-cant-i-hold-all-my-husbands
