Police Training

OK, my pervy readers. I hope the 1 week wait didn't kill you. Here's the final chapter for this section of the story.

Thanks go to the handsome Brit for his editing skills.

Enjoy.

*******

The receptionist looks over the license and hits a button on the phone. "Mr. Kerchenko, I'm sorry to bother you. There's a young girl here to see you, she doesn't have an appointment. Elizabeth Byrne." All Lizzy hears is silence as she waits for Nic to tell the receptionist to let her in.

The woman clicks another button on the phone. "I'm sorry, miss. Mr. Kerchenko doesn't have any time available for you today. Would you like me to validate your parking?"

Her heart cracks, tiny bits of her world shatter and rain down around her. Did he do this all just to destroy her? She's ruined her whole life. The receptionist obviously doesn't like Lizzy standing in front of her desk and is trying to get her attention. "Miss, shall I call security?"

She has to go. She won't give Nic the satisfaction of losing it where he can enjoy it. It's difficult, but she turns and stumbles back into the elevator, standing there, forcing herself to breathe. Nothing happens. Why? Why did he do this? A button, she's supposed to press a button. She presses the button next to the star. The coffin. She's in the coffin again. It's so hard to breathe. There's a chime, and the doors start to close, sealing her inside. Sealing her fate. Just before the doors meet, the pale hand of death reaches for her.

The chime sounds again, and the doors open. A young man stands there in a charcoal suit jacket, his arm stuck out, keeping the doors from closing. He has Nic's olive skin, dark hair, and penetrating eyes. They stare at each other. "Are you Lizzy? Lizzy Byrne?" Not sure what else to do, Lizzy nods yes. "Please. Let me bring you into the office where we can speak privately." His hand is on her forearm, gently pulling her out of the elevator and into the office. He tells the receptionist to hold his calls.

If the reception area was impressive, the office is more so. It's so Nic. Strong, powerful, clean, masculine. "Who are you?"

He smiles. He has Nic's smile too. "I'm Sergii, Sergii Kerchenko. When Maggie called you Elizabeth, I didn't make the connection until after I hung up. My dad's only ever called you Lizzy. And you don't look very good. Are you OK?"

"I think I'm having a nervous breakdown." Liz is led to a leather sofa and sits down. There's a large desk in the office. On that desk is a tablet, a cup of coffee, and a small green paper swan. He still has it.

Sergii is feeling her forehead and checking her hands. He pulls out his phone and speed dials someone. "Hey, I need you in the office." Silence as he listens. "Because you have two years of med school. Get up here now." He puts the phone down and starts puttering around the office. He finds a blanket and pillows from a cabinet and offers then to her. Then a shot of brandy. Then a box of tissue. She just collects everything on her lap.

The office doors open "Serj. That was the engineering meeting. It's important." The new person stops dead in his tracks and stares at Lizzy. "Who's that?" He also has Nic's features.

Sergii comes back from whatever he was scrounging up. "May I introduce Miss Lizzy Byrne."

"No way! She's not supposed to be here. Are the Feds outside today?" Serj just shrugs, he doesn't know if anyone saw her come in. Luka looks more closely at her. "Is she OK?"

"I dunno. That's why I called you. I think she might be in shock."

The second man comes and sits on the coffee table in front of her. "Hey Lizzy. I'm Luka. Can I check some things, make sure you're OK?" Lizzy nods.

He checks her forehead and her eyes, lightly pinches the skin on her forearm, and presses on her fingernails. "Lizzy, when was the last time you ate anything?" Lizzy shakes her head. She doesn't know. "Lizzy, this is important. Try and think. When did you eat last?"

"Ummm Sunday, maybe. Last real meal anyway."

Luka tells Serj to get a Snapple from the fridge. "It's Friday now. That's a long time to go without proper food or water. You're dehydrated. I need you to drink this for me." He pops the top off and hands it to her, helping her get it to her mouth. "Serj, call Katz's and get a sandwich here right away. And some babka, dad says she has a sweet tooth. And Gatorade." Serj is on the phone immediately, sending someone out on the errand. "I need you to drink this all. We'll get some food here right away. That should make you feel much better. You might be having a panic attack, I'm not sure, but I can't treat that anyway. What I can do is get some food and water into you." He stands and goes to talk to his brother.

"Wait. Where's Nic?" Both men turn to look at her.

"He left LAX this morning; He should be landing at JFK around 5ish."

Serj sheepishly looks at Luka. "He took a private jet from a smaller airport. Downtime is closer to 6:30 now." They share a look that Lizzy can't decipher. "We'll get him here as soon as he lands. Just keep drinking the Snapple. We'll get you some food and you'll feel much better."

"L.A.X.?" Dehydration is making is so hard to think.

"Los Angeles Airport. California. West coast. U.S.A." Luka elbows his brother for being a smart ass. "Give us a sec to talk, then Luka has a meeting he needs to get back to. OK? One sec."

Nic's two sons back away toward the large desk, out of earshot. "Why the private plane? Why the delay? She's cute."

"Knock it off Luka. Dad wouldn't let the doctor put him out, so he's not sure all the bullet fragments are out of his shoulder. Going through normal security would have been risky."

Luka checks his watch. It's almost 2:30. "Shit. Fucking Chinese. Why'd they have to start a war with the cartel this week? I'm going back to the engineers. Make sure she drinks that and the Gatorade when the food arrives. Make sure she eats. No one can resist Katz's pastrami on rye with mustard. Do we tell dad she's here?"

"Hell no. He'd go ballistic on that plane. Make it miserable for everyone. I'll tell Zeke what's going on and tell him to get him back here as soon as they land. No stops along the way. Go. I got this." Luka leaves to return to his meeting. Sergii keeps Lizzy company until the food arrives.

*******

"Mom? Mom, I'm home. Where are you?" Mal got a rather cryptic message earlier that his mom needed to talk to him after work.

"In the garden. I'll be right in." Malachi drops his gear in the living room and heads for the kitchen to find some food. That's what mom's house is for.

"Hey Grampa." Grampa just huffs at him. "What's up with you today?"

"Getting kicked out of my own home is what's up. The nerve of some people." After Malachi took over, Sunday dinners and family meetings were moved over to his house. Mom's house seemed too big for her alone, so grampa sold his condo and moved in to help out.

Mom comes in with a basket of tomatoes and peppers. "Hey, how was your day?" She turns to grampa. "You, scoot. Go on, we had this conversation already. Out."

"Yeah yeah yeah. I'm going. I hope you sleep well knowing you kicked a helpless old man out of the comfort of his own home."

She barks out a laugh. "Helpless? Where's Seamus? What have you done with my father-in-law? You're just grumpy because you want to know what's going on." Grampa leaves the two to talk about their secrets alone. He's not happy, but there's nothing he can do about it.

Mom and Mal sit at the kitchen table in awkward silence for a while. "Well, this isn't going to be good, is it?"

"Hit the nail on the head with that one?"

"What'd she do?"

"She? How'd you know?"

"Ah, let's see. She quit. That was my first clue. She hasn't answered her phone in days. That was a clue. Just put it out there, it can't be that bad."

"Liz met a guy about five years ago. Without meaning to, she fell in love. And from what I heard her say last night, he loves her too."

"I knew it was weird she hadn't been dating regularly. I thought maybe someone hurt her over in Germany, but wasn't sure how to approach her with it." Mom sits silently waiting for him to figure out the next question. His eyebrows move together and his eyes look toward the ceiling. He's got it. "Wait. Five years? Why didn't she tell us? Why haven't we met the guy yet? It's a guy, right?"

Mom grins. "Yes, he's a guy."

"OK, so this is the catch. We're not going to like him, are we? Who is he? Come on. Out with it. Get it over with. This is why I'm here."

Mom takes a deep breath, looks her son in the eye and says the last name he would ever want to hear, or ever expect. "Nikolai Kerchenko."

Everything is in slow motion. She sees his eyebrows crunch together as he processes the name. Then the eyes get wide. Then they lock on hers. His mouth opens. Then it closes. Yup, that's kind of how she felt last night.

"Nikolai Kerchenko! The son of Andovan Kerchenko? Drug dealer. Weapons smuggler. Murderer. This is a joke, right?" Mom shakes her head no. "This IS a joke, RIGHT!" Again, mom shakes her head. "Are you serious? Fucking Nikolai Kerchenko! Seriously?"

"Calm down."

"Calm down? Calm down! I'll kill her. I'll kill him too. Nikolai Kerchenko! Nikolai Kerchenko. Why? Why would she do this?"

"She didn't plan it. She didn't even know who he was when she first met him."

"How could she NOT know Nikolai Kerchenko?"

"Calm down. She knew his name, but never his face. Have you ever brought home pictures of criminals to show the family? She just got back from Germany, she was in the academy. He just told her his first name. She didn't know his last name. It just happened."

"Oh god. It? It happened! She slept with a guy and didn't even know his name. Come on! How am I supposed to deal with this shit. She's my little sister."

"Calmly would be preferred. She says she's in love with him. From the way she talked about him I believe her. We can either figure out a way to deal with this, or we could lose her."

Malachi lurches. "She wouldn't choose him over us, would she? We're her family."

Mom gets a sad look on her face and shrugs her shoulders. "She shouldn't have to choose at all." Mal groans. Why can't papa be here for this? "Are you willing to risk never seeing your sister again? I'm not saying we will be all buddy-buddy with the Kerchenkos, but a truce-like scenario might work."

"A truce? What kind of truce? She's not bringing him to my home for dinner. Fuck that!" Thank god mom has a plan; his mind is reeling right now.

"She wouldn't do that. She knows that would never happen. It could be something simple like pretending he doesn't exist when we're with her. Or maybe just rules on what we ask her about him." Mal cocks his head, confused. "We could ask how he is, what they've done together, but not if he was home between 7:45 and 8:30 on such-a-such day when you're investigating a crime."

"Like boundaries? That kind of makes sense. Why did she do this to us? Nikolai Kerchenko!"

"She didn't choose it, Mal. She fell in love. Fell being the operative word. She loves him. We never told you kids this, but my parents didn't want me marrying your father either. They didn't think Quin had a good enough profession for their little girl. They wanted me to marry a podiatrist I had dated earlier. There were nightly screaming matches, threats, and psychological warfare. Eventually we stopped talking for almost two years. Quin and I got married without most of my family attending and that hurt so much."

"I didn't know that. Why didn't you tell us?"

"It was private, and when Aiden was born, we reconciled. It was in the past. You can't put her through that, Malachi. Don't make her choose."

He can't imagine not talking to his family for two years. "How long do I have? Does anyone else know?"

"No one else knows, but keeping the secret is wearing her down. Sooner would be better. Sunday would be best."

Mal puts his head in his hands. "Is there anything else?"

Mom cocks her head to the side and a small smile plays across her face. "Yes, but I won't tell you. It's a mother-daughter secret right now. Maybe in a few decades I'll let you know, but right now it could do a lot of damage if it got out. Our family owes her a debt. And Kerchenko also." Mal just stares at her, waiting for more, but mom is silent. His head drops down to the table top. Mom pats his back. "I know it sucks sitting in the chair sometimes, but trust me, the good times do outweigh the bad times. Everyone will be mad, but they'll look to you to see how to progress. Let them get the anger out, but don't let it go so far as to make them regret their words or actions. Just remind them that they love their sister. And keep Kerchenko safe. Harassing and harming him will be the first option thrown out. You need to nip that in the bud quickly." Mal lets out a groan. The rest of the afternoon is spent planning; deciding what he'll allow, what he'll steer people away from, and what gets shut down immediately.

********

At 7:00PM, Lizzy is sound asleep, a half-eaten pastrami sandwich on the coffee table. She doesn't stir when Nic barges in the office door. Startled, Sergii and Luka jump up from the desk though. Nic glares at his sons before focusing on the sleeping form on the sofa. He goes over and with a hand on her hip, he gently wakes her up. "Baby? Are you OK? Lizzy, wake up."

Lizzy grumbles and turns toward Nic. Slowly her eyes open and focus on him. She sits up and then she punches him in the chest. Nic grunts and pulls his injured shoulder away from her. Over and over he lets her hit him. "You left me! You just left me. I called and you weren't there."

Nic pulls her close with his uninjured arm. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry baby. I'm sorry."

Tears start flowing as Lizzy keeps screaming at him. "You just wanted to hurt me. Hurt my family. I'm a murderer now. I lost everything. I ruined everything and you left me. You planned all this to hurt me and my family!" She tries to hit him again, but he holds her close.

He holds her until she gives up. "I'm sorry. I'm here now. I'm sorry I hurt you."

"You said you'd never hurt me."

"I did, and I meant it. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. You needed me, and I wasn't there. I'm so sorry." They spend the next few minutes holding each other, with Lizzy venting her fears and Nic trying to console her. With her anger and fear vented, Lizzy slumps against him, sniffling. One last thump on his back to make her feel better.

Nic sits on the sofa next to her. Silence. Nic looks around, but his sons have already given them privacy. Soon Lizzy leans into him and he wraps his arm around her shoulder. The lure of the pastrami sandwich after a long week in South America is too much to resist. Manning up, he reaches with his injured arm for the sandwich and takes a bite. "That's my sandwich."

"It's really good too. Thanks." Lizzy snorts and calls him an ass. "You know I would have been here for you if I could, right? I wouldn't leave you unless it was important. I only want to make you happy. I know you forgive me, but I still needed to say I was sorry."

"I didn't forgive you yet." She watches as he takes another bite of her sandwich.

"Yeah you did, or you would have hit me harder." With a cocky grin he offers her some of the sandwich, grudgingly she takes a bite. It is a good sandwich.

"Maybe, I'll hit you harder tomorrow."

"Good. I haven't had sex in a while. And I always loved fucking the angry out of you."

''You are such an ass!" They both laugh as they finish the sandwich. Nic leaves the mess for someone else to clean up. "Come on, I have a friend who wants to meet you."

"A friend friend or a doctor friend?"

She's been catching his little fibs more and more often now. "You're seeing a doctor, Lizzy, even if I have to carry you over my shoulder to get you there. So no back-talk from you, young lady." What doctor's office is open at 8PM on a Friday night? Luka and Sergii are in a conference room off the reception area, looks like they're going over blueprints or something. We stop in to say bye. "How'd the engineer meeting go?"

Luka is all business again. "Two of the engineers don't like working with Bertolli for the construction. They said he is always late and likes to use substandard material. I had it looked into, and prelim reports agree with that assessment. It was a productive meeting. I'm 80% confident we'll get the main site we chose..." he glances at Lizzy. "The EPA finally decided on the lower numbers."

"OK great. Anything else."

Sergii's turn. "Ahhh... Welcome back and she's cute." He waves at Lizzy. Nic just shakes his head as Lizzy blushes under his arm.

In the elevator down to the car, she has to ask. "Did you bribe the EPA?"

In his most innocent voice he answers truthfully. "I was out of town all week." He didn't say no. She kind of knew she wouldn't get an answer for that question. Did she even really want to know?

A short car ride later, and Nic's driver lets them off in the back of a private medical office complex. A man is waiting by the back door to unlock it and let them in. "Welcome, Mr. Kerchenko. We weren't expecting additional guests."

"She's had a bad week. I was told she might have been dehydrated this afternoon, I just want her checked out." If they were expecting Nic, and not Lizzy, then something else must be going on. The man leads them through the hall, past several exam rooms and stops at the only open door. He knocks gently.

"Oh, good. He's here. And with company." The doctor stands and greets them. The nurse fills him in on the dehydration. The nurse then takes Nic to one room and Lizzy to one across the hall.

The doctor sees Lizzy first. "Good evening. I hear you had a bad week." After a short discussion about why she wasn't eating, and what exactly she did eat or drink, Lizzy gets a general medical check-up. She's still borderline dehydrated right now, so he has the nurse get her another Gatorade, she needs to drink all of it before bed. He orders some blood and urine tests, and Lizzy is left with the nurse to finish those up.

When the samples are collected, she is told to wait in the exam room while he goes across the hall to help the doctor. One part of her knows exam rooms are private and she shouldn't go to Nic's room. But another part of her needs to make sure he's still there and hasn't left again. She knows it's irrational, and she'll probably get ushered out quickly, but she needs to see him.

The hall is empty and she listens at the door first, nothing. Quietly she opens the door. She sees Nic shirtless and laying on his back on the exam table. The doctor motions with his head at the nurse, who starts toward Lizzy. "Miss, I'm going to have to ask you to..."

"It's OK. She's going to see it sooner or later." Both men look at Nic, then go back to what they were doing.

There are bloody bandages and scary looking metal instruments on a side table. The doctor starts digging in the flesh below Nic's shoulders. She watches him bear down and ride the pain. She hates seeing him in pain and puts her hand on his ankle, letting him know she's there. There's a clink as a bullet fragment hits the bottom of a small metal tray. "You're a lucky man. One inch to the right and this could have done some real damage. There's one more fragment, then we should be done."

Nic forces a chuckle. "One inch to the right and it'd have hit body armor." He raises his hand toward Lizzy and she takes it. His eyes flash towards her before the pain begins again. Another clink and it's over. Nic visibly relaxes. The nurse cleans up the wound. The doctor takes another digital XRay and proclaims Nic fresh and fragment free. A bad pun on fragrance free. Nic laughs though. He gets stitched up by a happily whistling doctor.