Till Life Do Us Part

Chapter 8

Danica chewed her lower lip furiously as she stared at the computer screen in concentration. A black and white picture of Edmund and Roden Roosevelt stared back. The picture dated back to 42 years ago and they both stood on a porch, grinning widely at the camera. Roden stood almost a head taller and looked almost a stone heavier, his long black hair slicked back severely and a pair of circular rimless glasses resting on his long nose. Edmund had obviously been the cooler brother, for while being slightly shorter, he posed with his thumbs hooked into his suspenders, a charming smile pasted wide on his face, revealing a dimple on his left cheek. Roden had his arm around his brother's shoulders and ordinarily looking at the picture, one would take him as the older one. The brothers were obviously very comfortable around each other. A blurry monochrome picture appeared as she scrolled to the next page. It was the brothers again, nearly 20 years later and they had a woman between them. The picture had been taken at a party and both men stood in slightly oversize tuxedos that must have been the trend decades ago, champagne flutes in hand. The woman was small, 5'2 at the most and sported a honey blond pixie cut, a short, strapless shimmery dress clinging to her petite figure. Roden Roosevelt had his arm tightly around her slim shoulders, awkward smiles on their lips. Danica couldn't help noticing the little distance between the lady and Edmund as he stood a little apart, a bored expression on his face. Danica would have really taken him as simply bored, if she didn't see his tightly clenched right fist hanging down between him and the lady. The picture screamed weird and she was going to find out why.

Sighing heavily, she leaned back on her seat and ran her hands down her face in exhaustion. Snapping shut the notepad she had written all complied information on Edmund Roosevelt in, she pushed back and rose from her seat. She made her way to the kitchen, glancing at the wall clock in the process. 3:47pm...... she had been at this for over 7 hours and had only 2 cups of coffee and a leftover slice of pizza to boast for in her system. Yawning loudly, she yanked open the fridge, drove her hands into the warm pockets of her Terry robe and stared at it's contents indecisively as she yet, stifled another yawn. Clapping eyes on a cup of Greek yogurt, she made to reach for it but was interrupted by the jarring sound of her phone ringing from the bedroom. Abandoning the refrigerator door, she strode lazily to the room and reached for her abandoned phone on the bed. She was surprised to see Roy's caller ID displayed on the screen.

"Detective Davis". She said tentatively, torn between pleasant surprise and wariness.

"And the kind Detective finally picked my calls today". The familiar drawl of his voice over the phone had her grinning suddenly. She hadn't even realized she actually missed him.

"I thought babysitting was no fun, Detective.......didn't know being jobless was even worse". She said warmly as she made her way back out to the kitchen, settling into a seat by the little island. Roy chuckled over the phone. 

"It's nice hearing from you again. How is it, Detective?".

She shrugged indifferently and traced lines lazily on the island. "It sucks. Trust me, you really don't wanna lose your job".

"I'm sure I don't want to. We really miss you, Detective. The team does and the Unit too. Chief literally spent the first days looking like a heart broken dad". Danica laughed softly despite the pang of sadness that knotted her chest. She really missed them too......even Roy. "We hope you miss us too". His voice sounded a bit far away and she realized he was in the kitchen when she heard the loud sizzle of something being burnt, immediately followed by a vile string of curses. 

"I sure do". She said, a smile in her voice.

"A minute, Detective!!!" Roy called out "Let me just......" He swore again and grumbled. She heard the sound of something.......a pan most probably, being dropped angrily and Roy's brisk footsteps as he came back over to pick the phone. "Sorry about that". He sighed in resignation. "I'm just no good at stuff like this".

She hadn't expected him to be. "Not sure I'm surprised at that". She said jokingly. He chuckled loudly on the other end. "By the way, to what do I owe this lovely call?" She asked in mock curiosity. 

"Well.......I just wanted to try my luck. Since you've blatantly refused to pick my calls for what.....a month now?". He tried to say it lightly but Danica heard the slight hurt in his voice. Truly she had refused to pick any calls from her colleagues when they had called incessantly on the first days of the incident. It hadn't helped that she hadn't told them much on the day, she had just come straight up to her desk and packed her things almost mechanically. She was sure Chief would let them know in no time and that was exactly why she hadn't wanted their pity. She should have called back sometime indeed, she realized now.

"I'm sorry about that. It was just........it was depressing. And I didn't want anyone's pity".

"I thought so. Too bad I hadn't actually been calling to offer you any pity, Danica, I wanted to ask if you'd finally be able to honor your promise". 

She smiled fondly at the phone. Roy was never going to change.

"I will this time. How about this Saturday?" She was surprised to find that she actually meant it. She actually wanted to see him again.

"Are you serious?" The genuine surprise in his voice had her chuckling.

"I'm very serious, Detective. Is this Saturday good?"

"Hell yes!!!!!!!!" He practically screamed. "Any Saturday is good. Wait......I really hope you aren't just saying this again this time. You aren't going to stand me up?"

She smiled. "I won't".

"I need your word".

"Fine.......I promise".

"This is surreal. Saturday suddenly seems so far away".

She craned her neck to glance at the calendar on top of the refrigerator. "Come on......it's just two days away". In all honesty, she had actually forgotten what day of the week was. It didn't matter much these days anyways.

"2 days is a lot".

"It'll pass in a blur". She managed as she stifled a yawn. "I have to get going, Detective".

"Right.......that's okay. Bye, Danica".

She didn't get why he kept on calling her by her first name. Regardless, she smiled as she rose out of the seat and made her way to the refrigerator that still stood wide open. "Bye, Detective".

"See you in 2 days". He called out quickly. 

"Right. Byee!!!" She quickly hung up before he could add any other thing. Talking on the phone with anyone was always so stressful for her, she always tried to keep calls as short as possible. Reaching for the yogurt and grabbing a bag of chips, she finally settled back into her seat and ate her meal in silence. While she could cook, she didn't particularly enjoy doing it. Cooking had been a major activity in the Parishes home back in Texas and Danica had been forced to learn. She and her mum would spend weekends baking and cooking for visiting friends and relatives for they always had.

Thinking of home, Danica felt the familiar sense of sadness settle over her as she stared at her Greek yogurt distractedly. She missed home, she missed her parents. It had been 2 years since she last saw them and it hadn't even really been an enjoyable one. She had finally taken Jackson over to visit and the whole weekend had been spent awkwardly as her parents made their disapproval of the relationship known. They had admired Jackson but they just hadn't been able to accept him fully......Danica always thought it was only the age difference, maybe her parents had seen something in him after all. She had been so pissed with their general bad performance that she had dragged Jackson and they had returned back to Atlanta a day early. Even though she liked to believe that was the only reason for the small rift between she and her parents today, Danica knew it had started way earlier. When she had regained her memories.  The Parishes hadn't been glad to see the gradual changes in their perfect daughter. All her life, Danica had always done what her parents wanted, including joining the Police Academy and agreeing to be Sam Duffy's date for high school prom even though he had been a pimply faced, touchy feely clown. Her parents had liked him because his parents were "nice, renowned people" in town. Danica had never shared their feelings. She grimaced as she recalled the invasive smack of his lips as he had kissed her on prom night. That had been her first kiss but it had been in the range of nose-wrinkling disgusting to stomach churning revolting. It hadn't even come close to being magical. She had pushed him away and stalked the small distance back home in her floor length emerald gown, her silver shoes in hand. Her parents had officially banned her from seeing him again when she told them what happened. She remembered the silent glee she had felt at finally getting rid of him.

Things had started to change when she had refused to come back home for the holidays, making it the first time she had ever said no to her parents. Of course they hadn't taken it well and had nearly blown her phone over with a lot of drama. But she had remained unfazed. The weird calm that had descended on her on finally knowing her identity had helped her remain unbothered throughout the whole incident. She had never felt more like Melaniá as she listened to her father talk to her nonstop for 10 minutes and in the end, had calmly told him "I'm still not coming home, Dad". He had been livid but she still hadn't swayed. She had needed space alone to collect her thoughts and manage the sudden, uncontrollable fits of anger and frustration that often came over her as she tried to balance her emotions.

As she grew up and learnt to maintain her balance, she realized she had actually learnt important things from two lifetimes. By being Melaniá, she had learnt that she didn't need to always please others like perfect Danica did, she had learnt to say no when necessary, to openly express her emotions.....even the negative ones, to always think of herself first and to care less about what people thought of her. Being Danica had thought her to feel. She had learnt concern, affection, love and most importantly, she had made friends. She no longer tried to fight anything, being both Danica and Melaniá came so naturally to her now she really didn't have to sweat it. Maybe this was why she had been given this chance after all........to learn to be a better person.

Scraping the last of her yogurt into her mouth, she left the empty cup on the island and marched over to her room, stopping in front of the mirror.

She never stopped wondering what she had done to deserve this chance but also never stopped being grateful. She had a feeling her mirror reflection would have all the answers.....but that would be in her dreams. Smiling at her own pun, she turned away from the mirror. Since the day she pulled her in, Melaniá had never appeared to her again. She had so many questions to ask but wondered if she'd ever see her again. She realized she actually wanted to. 

Walking back over to her system, she settled into her seat and reopened the file containing the pictures. She clicked on a picture at the very bottom of the grid, a picture of Tristan, coming out of a black car, all business. He wore one of his usual tailored business suits and looked grim. His mouth was set in a fine line as he stared ahead, right at the angle the picture had been taken, his green gaze piercing. Staring right into them had her heart quickening again. It was a miracle how she maintained her mask of indifference when she was with him when she practically felt her insides turn to jelly whenever he stared at her. Shaking him out of her head, she retracted the picture and retrieved her notepad. She might be seeing a lot of Tristan Roden, but that wasn't going to sway her previous decision. The past must never repeat itself.