Never Give All the Heart, pt. 1
As requested by @blossom--of--snow and @glittermermaid18
On her 30th birthday, it was a book. She hadn’t expected anything – hadn’t even considered that he might know her birthday – so the poorly wrapped package on her desk had her more suspicious than anything else. It wouldn’t be the first time that one of her coworkers had left her a ‘gift’ that, at best, had to be thrown in the trash and at worst required a very embarrassing call to building maintenance.
A book. Well worn and well loved, if the feathery soft pages were any indication, some words traced over so lovingly that the ink had smudged. I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree, And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made; Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee, And live alone in the bee-loud glade. Yeats, her favorite of all the Irish poets. Andy Flynn’s as well, if the book were any indication.
She thumbed through the pages, so absorbed in the words that she didn’t notice a slip of paper flutter to her lap until she’d put away the book and turned her attention to a stack of folders, on top of which was yet another write-up for one Detective Andy Flynn. For a moment she wondered if the book were just a ruse to sneak into her office and swipe the complaint form before she could review it, but it wasn’t like Andy to hide from his actions. No, he’d wait for her to read the file and then only too happily fill her in on all the gory details his CO had omitted from the report. It was a huge breach of protocol, a suspect in an investigation having a private conversation regarding an officer-related incident, but it was an even bigger breach of protocol for the investigating officer to conduct the interview in her bed, late at night, and naked, so she wasn’t in any position to be throwing stones. She also wasn’t in any position to be turning away the only man in recent memory who showed interest in a return visit to her bed, even if doing so might eventually get her fired.
Eventually, but not today. She put all thoughts of her private life out of her head and started to read. For two hours she read, made notes, scheduled meetings and wrote reports. By 10am her energy was starting to flag. She reached high above her head and stretched, listening with some satisfaction to the popping and cracking of her spine. Rolling her neck forward, she caught sight of a slip of white on her lap. Must have been in one of the files, she thought.
She unfolded the paper. Written in Andy’s bold strokes, a verse and nothing more –
‘But lest you are my enemy,
I must enquire.’
‘Oh no, my dear, let all that be;
What matter, so there is but fire
In you, in me.’
A smile tugged at her lips as she whispered the words. She was 30 years old. Her husband could barely stand to be in the same room as her, her coworkers hated her, she was struggling under enormous debt, but she had fire. In you, in me – she had fire, and when her fire dwindled to embers, she had Andy to keep her warm.