Authors: Sim & Cam
Disclaimer. Alas, if they only were ours, then we would have a huge party, and sue the rest of the list for using them without our permission!! *evil laughter*
Author’s Note: The concept is simple.. we follow Frank and Rachel’s lives for a year.. each part covers one month. Naturally this means it will be 12 parts all in all, and this is the first one, covering January.
********
”HAPPY NEW YEAR!!” came the happy cries of the Sydney Water Police, and it joined in with hundred, thousands of others from all over Sydney. Firework erupted against the clear night sky with even more intensity, and people hugged and kissed while screaming their hearts out.
It was a new year.
And as the bell struck midnight, Frank Holloway had turned to his partner Rachel Goldstein. She was beaming at him.. for once totally relaxed, and seemingly happy.
“Happy new year, Frank,” she grinned, clinking her glass with his.
“Happy new year,” he replied, then planted a big kiss on her lips. It was only appropriate he figured. It was New Years Eve after all.
“Now it’s a even happier new year,” he teased as he let go. She smirked at him, then kissed him right back. Only this wasn’t a quickie like his, this almost boarded on…
He blinked, realizing she had pulled away. He closed his mouth quickly, hoping he hadn’t looked too stupid.
“More?” she asked, offering from the bottle. He nodded, even though he had a feeling the hangover would be dreadful. Right now he didn’t care though. A new year with new possibilities, and the feeling of her kiss still lingered on his lips.
Her smile was quite catching. He felt himself grin ridiculously, and so were several of his colleagues. It had been one hell of a party! Even Jeff was drunk! Tayler and Gavin had mysteriously disappeared, and even with a clouded mind he still had a fair idea why.
Helen was dancing with Jeff, Dave and Tommy were hanging around Woodsie, toasting, everybody seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely.
“Come here!” Rachel was pulling at his arm, directing his attention to the shadows. He blinked, and had to try to focus several times before he finally spotted Syksie holding a mistletoe and kissing Tayler quite thoroughly.
“I thought mistletoe only applied for Christmas,” he remarked, pouring down the glass in one sip.
“Oh yeah? Too bad, cos we’re standing under one,” she grinned. He looked up, and surely, there it was.
“Yeah.. too bad,” he commented, nearly tripping as he reached up to take the mistletoe down. She caught him as he was about to fall over, and their gazes locked.
“We could pretend it’s Christmas,” she suggested, and he considered that for a moment.
And then he leaned forward.
**********
She blinked. It was hot, was her first impulse. Damn hot. And her head was pounding fiercely.
“Aw, crap!” she muttered and opened her eyes. Something was oddly out of place. It took her several seconds to figure out what it was because it wasn’t her bedroom. And someone was in the bed with her, shifting a bit.
She closed her eyes. Crap! No wonder her body felt all ticklish and warm. And the memories came pouring back..
They almost fell in as he managed to get the door open while kissing her madly. She was pulling him by the tie, trying to get him upstairs. With a ripping sound he finally managed to tear her blouse off, and she gasped at the feeling of his mouth against her bare skin.
She finally managed to pull off his tie, and was working the buttons as they moved towards the stairs. They tripped over something, she fell on the stairs, but didn’t care as he deepened the kiss. The steps were cutting into her back, and she pushed him up and they practically ran up.
He kicked the door open, still kissing her and they fell onto the bed.
“Rachel,” he moaned into her mouth.
“Shit!” she exclaimed, opening her eyes again.
“Okay, ya can handle this. You and Frank had sex. No biggie. No biggie at all,” she told herself firmly, glancing over at Frank. He was still sound asleep, snoring a bit in fact.
“Crap!” she cursed again, then realized he was about to wake.
Quickly, she bolted out of bed, grabbing all her clothes she could find, and got dressed. Her blouse was ruined, so she nicked one of Frank’s t-shirts. She had no desire to talk to him right now, her head pounding more and more loudly.
She slammed the door just as he opened his eyes.
“What the…” he muttered, then felt the sound of a slamming door echo through his head ten times as loudly.
“Aw, crap!” he exclaimed, wondering who the hell were slamming his door. It had to be Rachel.. Rachel?
Rachel was looking at him, and he couldn’t resist leaning forward till their noses touched. The kiss was tentative at first, then she deepened it, her whole body brushing up against him.
"We should.. “ he tried to say, but she silenced him, pulling him into the shadows.
He found he didn’t care what the others saw.
“Oh my…” he muttered, hiding his head in his hands. What the hell had they done? This could ruin everything.
He rolled out of bed, grabbing for clothes. He needed coffee. Black coffee. Then he could think.
He was surprised to find Rachel standing in his kitchen, making coffee as he walked down the stairs.
“Rachel?”
She glanced up at him.
“Yeah.. coffee?”
“Thanks,” he replied, taking the mug. After a few seconds awkward silence she took a mug as well.
“I thought you had left,” he remarked.
“Well, ya know.. I was but.. umm..” she tried to explain, but found she couldn’t. She wasn’t sure what made her come back herself.. maybe out of loyalty to their partnership.
“Yeah,” he replied, “so…”
“So… Umm.. I think we both agree that was a mistake.”
He managed to keep a straight face.
“Yeah.. just wasn’t us really.. I mean,” he offered.
“Yeah.. so.. it was a mistake.. and it’s not going to happen again, so we should just deal with it and move on.”
“Uh huh,” he nodded, “we’re the same old after all. Partners.” He managed to smile a bit.
“Yeah, partners. Definitely,” she agreed. They both took a heavy sip of coffee, staring at the kitchen counter.
“I should go.. Yeah, I should go,” she muttered, placing the mug on the counter she softly walked out. He didn’t even look after her, feeling like his whole life suddenly had become a unsolvable tangle.
“Crap,” he muttered, and headed for the shower, to wash away the feeling of her.
**********
“Morning Rachel,” Frank called out as he entered the office. She barely glanced up at him.
“Morning.”
He popped down on the chair behind his desk, still looking at her. She seemed to be reading a file pretty intently. He pretended to do the same while looking at her. They had been avoiding each other for two whole days, but then it was time to go back to work. So far everything seemed the same.
“Everything *is* the same, Holloway,” he firmly told himself.
“We’ve got a new case,” she finally exclaimed and looked up at him.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. A woman was attacked last night, they think it’s The Sandman”
“The Sandman?” he asked, confused.
“Yeah.. he leaves the word “Sandman” in blood at the crime scene.”
She waved the file at him, and he got up, glad to focus his thoughts on something else.
“And this woman got away?”
“Yep. She’s coming in later today.. She insisted on talking with us.”
“Really? That’s interesting. What’s in the file?”
“The Sandman’s track record.”
He leaned down to glance at the file she was holding.
“Interesting record,” he remarked. She nodded, then suddenly felt herself becoming very aware of him. She could feel his breath on her shoulder, and his chest were almost touching her back. His one hand were in contact with hers.. it felt like fire through the fabric.
“Umm.. yes,” she muttered, and tore her arm away with the result that she bumped backwards a bit, into his chest. His breath caught in his throat.
“Sorry,” she exclaimed, and got up really fast, cursing herself.
“No harm done,” he replied.
“Goldstein, Holloway, the lady is downstairs looking for you,” Helen announced as she entered the office. They were staring at each other rather strangely, she noted.
“Righto,” Rachel replied, tearing her gaze from Frank. She had a terrible urge to shout “get a grip!” to herself, this was not the time to start making goo-goo eyes at her partner! In fact, it would never be the time to do that.
“Yeah, okay, let’s take her to interview room one,” she suggested, composing herself.
“Ladies first,” Frank offered, holding the door for her as they were leaving the office. She sent him a glare, but made no comment.
Helen just shook her head.
********
“Miss Clemets?”
The lady looked up as Frank and Rachel entered. She seemed to be in her mid-thirties, a bit pale, but otherwise seemingly calm and collected.
“Yes.”
“I understand you have asked specifically to talk to us.”
“Yes. I wanted you two.”
“May I ask why?”
“The man that attacked me.. he made comments that made me believe that he might be in the police force.”
Frank and Rachel exchanged worried glances.
“Are you sure?” Rachel chose her words carefully.
“My brother was a cop.. I kinda have a sense for it.. My brother also talked about this constable Holloway a lot. I figured I could trust you.”
“Arnie Clemets, right?” Frank asked, and she nodded, her full attention on him. Rachel leaned backwards in her chair, letting Frank take control of the interview.
“So can ya tell us what happened?” he asked gently.
“I was coming home from work.. I’m a teacher.. when I approached the car I saw that the tires were slashed. Another car pulled up.. a man was sitting in it.. I couldn’t see his face.. he asked me if I needed help, and made some comments about how the youth did these kind of illegal things for fun. He seemed so.. nice. Understanding. As he walked out, I turned my back for a second.. suddenly he was pulling me into the car, and I felt so.. tired. But I managed to kick him hard, he yelled something about ‘not supposed to be able to fight’, and I ran and ran..” She closed her eyes at the memory, and Frank put a hand comforting over hers.
“You’re safe now, Miss Clemets,” he assured her. She nodded slowly.
“Anything you remember about the guy?”
“He had the worst fake British accent,” she muttered, “and he was strong.. but not overly so. I don’t think he expected me to fight back. I didn’t see his face.. but he was average built.”
“Thank you,” Rachel said gently, “Frank, a word?” He nodded, and followed her out with one last reassuring smile to Miss Clemets.
“What do you think?” Rachel asked as soon as he had closed the door behind him.
“It’s The Sandman, I think.”
“Yeah.. same method.. slashed tires.. It’s a good bet. But what caught my attention was the phrase ‘not supposed to be able to fight’. Now why would he say that?”
“He drugs them,” Frank concluded.
“But how? And why weren’t she as affected as the others? Why could she fight back?”
“Something went wrong.. if we find out what, we may get a clue about who this guy is.”
She leaned against the wall, suddenly feeling tired.
“I would love to nail that guy.. he’s killed 7 women, and very brutally too.”
“I know,” he said, putting a hand on her arm, “we’ll get him.”
She looked down at his hand, the simple gesture was suddenly filled with context. He withdrew his hand quickly, as if it had been burned.
“I’ll finish the interview,” he offered, and she just nodded, still leaning against the wall as he went back in.
“What the hell have you done, Goldstein?” she muttered to herself.
*********
“She was lucky,” Frank announced as he entered the office.
“Yeah.. according to this profile Dr. Millers put up, this is not a guy who tolerates mistakes.”
“Dr. Millers?”
“Well-known physiatrist. He’s helped the police with several cases in the past.”
“Maybe we should have a talk with him.”
“Uh huh. So did Miss Clemets have anything more to offer?” she asked, leaning back in her chair.
“Not too much. She’ll probably remember more once the shock wear off. She’s still the first survivor. Maybe it will make this Sandman guy nervous.”
“And slip up. Yeah. Well, it’s late, we can talk to Dr. Millers tomorrow.”
“Yeah.. So, a beer?” She frowned slightly.
“Is that such a good idea Frank, we..”
“We’re still friends,” he reminded her, “partners.. right?”
“Righto. Beer it is,” she agreed, feeling quite uncomfortable for some reason.
“It’s Frank, your partner,” she reminded herself.
The Cutter bar was quite filled, but they managed to find a quiet corner. The conversation were kept light, and after a while Rachel found that she was relaxed. It was still the same.
“That’s it for tonight,” she exclaimed after finishing their sixth round.
“Already?” he teased. She gave him a grin.
“Yeah.. early start tomorrow.”
“I’ll walk with you out,” he offered, emptying the glass.
They waved to the nearby colleagues, and exited into the warm January evening.
“Thanks Frank.. for taking my mind of the case,” she said, admitting that it had somewhat affected her.
“Just looking after my partner,” he replied, looking intently at her. Suddenly the air around them seemed to be standing still. She had an urge to lick her lips, but fought it desperately.
“C ya tomorrow,” she called out, and hurried off home. He stared after her for a long time.
*******
“Dr Millers?” Rachel called out, and the man turned around. In his early 30s, he was quite handsome, dark hair, sharp features and glittering green eyes.
“Yes.”
“I’m Detective Goldstein, this is my partner Detective Holloway.”
“What can I do for you Detectives?”
“We understand you made a profile on the Sandman killings,” Frank said.
“Yes.. I did a few observations based on the case facts.”
“We are assisting on the case.. A woman was attacked a few days ago, and we think it may have been the killer.”
“But she escaped.”
“Yes,” Rachel replied
“Strange. I didn’t picture the killer to be the type to make mistakes,” the Doctor mused
"Why not?” Frank asked
“The only clues he has left for the police are those he want them to find. He is smart.”
“But even smart people make mistake,” Frank observed. The doctor just gave him a smile.
“Do you think the killer could be connected to the police?” Rachel asked, and noticed the doctor seemed surprised for the first time since they had entered the office.
“You.. have anything pointing to that?”
“Yes,” Frank simply stated, not explaining any further.
“I guess anything is possible.. but I wouldn’t put to much credit to that. He could have been trying to throw you off.”
The phone rang, causing the doctor to give them a excusing shrug before picking it up.
“Dr. Millers.. yes.. yes.. Calm down Andy..”
Rachel used the moment to look around in the office. It was neat, filled with books. Mostly thick ones, just a few thinner… She blinked, then looked again.
“Okay.. come by me later today.. yes.. see you then,” Dr. Millers hang up, then turned to the Detectives again.
“Sorry about that,” he remarked.
“Actually, I think we’ve gotten what we came for.. Thank you for your time,” Rachel smiled. Frank gave her a funny glance, but he had known her too long to say anything.
“Any time, Detectives.”
“What was that?” Frank asked as they exited into the hallway. She practically dragged him with her.
“He has the Sandman comic books in his book shelf,” she explained. He suddenly felt something flicker on in his head.
“Connected to the police,” he exclaimed, “of course. No one would suspect him, he made the profile!” She nodded grimly.
“We could be far off.. but did you notice how he jumped a bit when we mentioned the connection to the police?”
“Yeah.. he didn’t expect that.”
“We have nothing on him,” Rachel noted.
“He’s worried.. he thinks the woman he attacked may have something on her.. we should watch her.”
“Yep,” Rachel agreed.
************
“He’s patient,” Frank remarked, as they sat in the car, watching Miss Clemets house the 7th day in a row.
“He’s cunning,” she replied, yawning slightly. The week had been one long wait for something to happen, and not just in the Sandman’s case. She and Frank were tip-toeing around each other with an elegance that would impress a ballerina.
On the surface everything looked the same.
“Tired Goldie?” he asked, giving her a glance.
“I hate men who make me wait,” she replied.
“Remind me to never make you wait then,” he chuckled. She gave him a small smile.
“You can go home and sleep.. I’ll watch it here for a while,” he offered.
“Yeah? Great. Call me if anything comes up.”
“Sure thing!” he exclaimed, and slid out to join the other stake out team in their car. He gave her a small wave as he crossed the street. He was certainly acting like his old self. Maybe except a few times, when she caught him looking at her like *that*.
Just a few more weeks now, and everything would be normal again. Or so she tried to convinced herself.
Frank watched her drive off, then turned his attention to the house again. Focusing on the case was how he had gotten through the last week. He was actually quite proud of the amount of control he had mustered.
“Hey Frank, someone is on the phone for you,” one of the constables exclaimed. He took it with a curious frown.
“Holloway.”
“The target is not who you think, Detective,” came the metallic voice, and then the dial tone.
“What the.. The Target is not who I think you I think it is?” he asked aloud, trying to make any sense out of that.
“Oh hell!” he exclaimed, as a terrible thought struck him. “Rachel!”
“I need a lift!”
*********
He was dropped off by her house a few minutes later. Her car was parked, the house was lit up, it looked like everything was alright.
He rang the doorbell impatiently. No one replied, so he rang it again. And again.
“Come on, come on,” he muttered, then pushed the door open. It wasn’t locked.
“Rachel??” he called out. There was no answer. Suddenly feeling a seize of panic, he ran through the rooms, calling her name. Finally, he heard something in the bathroom, and barged in.
She was in the shower, shampooing her hair as he entered.
“Frank?? What the hell??!!” she yelled, quickly ducking out from under the water flow, grabbing a towel.
“Just what the bloody hell do you think you’re doing??!” she yelled at him as soon as she had covered herself.
“Ya didn’t answer when I rang the doorbell, and this guy was calling me and…” he tried to explain.
“I was in the bloody shower as ya can see!” she shot back.
“I got worried… I mean the guy.. he could..” he trailed off, staring at her. The towel was wet, he could practically see.. He swallowed hard.
“Stop staring Francis!” she snapped, and he lifted his gaze to meet hers. They were both breathing hard, and suddenly he felt something snap inside him. He pushed her up against the wall, not caring that he got wet.
“Don’t ya..” she began, but her protest got cut short when his mouth came down on hers. It was possessive, demanding, filled with desire. She wanted to slap him, to remind him they had agreed it was a mistake.. instead she lifted her hands to his hair, pushing him even more against her. The towel fell off, but she didn’t care.
His hands were resting on her hips, slowly stroking her skin there. She felt her head fall backwards as his mouth wandered down her neck. The shower was still running, she dimly registered, and she still had shampoo in her hair.
“Wash me,” she muttered, and he seemed to understand what she meant, lifting her up and walking into the shower with her. His clothes got immediately soaked, but he didn’t care, kissing her under the warm flow of water, letting his hands slowly trace every millimeter of her skin. She was trying to get his clothes of, a task made harder by the fact that they were completely wet.. and that his touches felt so good it was distracting.
“Frank..” she gasped, out of breath as she finally managed to rid him of the last piece of clothing.
The shampoo bottle had been knocked over, and was slowly pouring out. But she didn’t really notice that as he pressed her firmly against him., pushing her upwards and upwards until she was flying and threw her arms up in the air, crying out his name.
*********
They got dressed silently. He tried to think of anything to say, anything to make her look at him. She was avoiding his gaze.
“Rachel..” he pleaded.
“We need to talk,” she simply replied, entering the living room and sitting down.
“Okay,” he agreed, sitting down on the other side.
“I don’t want to ruin the partnership, Frank.”
“Neither do I.”
“Yeah.. but it seems whenever we get off work, we can hardly keep our hands of each other, and if this keeps up, the partnership will suffer.”
“It doesn’t have to..” he began.
“Yes, it will,” she cut in, “so.. We should end this.” His heart fell to the ground where it was quite thoroughly stepped on. He swallowed hard.
“And I think.. we shouldn’t see each other outside work for a while,” she added after a moments silence.
“If that’s what you want,” he said, keeping his voice as neutral as he could. She nodded.
“Yeah.. so I better go..” he muttered, getting up. She still didn’t look at him, and he walked out, slowly. Only when he had left did she let out a large, single sob, hugging herself.
“You did the right thing,” she told herself.
Then how come it felt so wrong?
**********
“So you think this Millers guy was the caller?” Jeff asked Frank as they walked up to the office the morning after as Frank were bringing him up to speed.
“Yeah.. but Rach.. umm.. was okay..” Frank managed not to stutter too much.
“Okay.. better be careful nevertheless.”
“Yeah..” he trailed off as Rachel walked towards them.
“Frank,” she said simply.
“Rachel,” he stated back, and Hawker looked at them both.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
“Fine!” both snapped at the same time. Hawker was about to push the subject further, when Rachel’s phone interrupted.
“Goldstein,” she practically whipped into the receiver.
“You slut.. sleeping with your partner..” came the voice.
“What?”
“The Sandman’s coming..” and with that the man at the other end hung up.“What?” asked Frank, looking worried. She shot a quick glance at Hawker, realizing it might not be wise to reveal the actually wording of the conversation.
“I think I have been appointed the next target,” she said dryly, both men staring at her.
“That was..”
"Him, yes. But why is he calling me?”
“He’s changing methods…”
“Or he is distracting us,” Rachel suggested, “he could mean to claim another victim and this is just to throw us off.” Frank just looked at her, already acting protectively, she noted sourly. Great. Just what she needed.
“Detectives..” came Miss Clemets voice, and they turned to look at her.
“Yes?”
“I think.. I remember.. I saw his face once, just quickly.. I must have shut it out, it was so brief.. I…”
“Is this the guy?” Rachel asked, holding up a picture of Dr. Millers. The way the woman squirmed at the sight, she knew it was.
“Yes.. yes, it is..”
“Let’s pick him up!”
**********
“He knew we were coming,” Frank noted, as they entered an empty office.
“Good bet. Bloody hell!”
“Well, everyone is looking for him, he shouldn’t get far,” Frank commented, looking around in the neatly tidied up office. She rubbed her eyes.
“Just perfect.. and now Miss Clemets is a target more than ever.”
“She’ll be looked after,” Frank pointed out, then lowered his voice a bit.
“Just what did the guy say?”
“He.. he made a comment about us sleeping together,” she admitted.
“What??”
“I got the impression he had been watching us..”
“Why didn’t you tell me? You could be in danger, I mean, he picks targets he feels are ‘slutty’ and..”
“Geez, thanks, Frank!”
“I didn’t mean it like…”
“Just shut up will ya?” He opened his mouth to protest, but quickly closed it when he saw her glare.
“It’s clean,” one of the constables approached them with, “looks like he had headed off.”
“Ya don’t say,” Frank added sarcastically.
“Frank!” she warned, and he raised his hands in defeat.
“I’ll have a look outside,” he suggested, and she stared angrily after him. Then she went to work, to find any clue whereto Dr. Millers could have disappeared. She was going to find him, lock him up, and everything would be the same again.
A few hours later she sighed, frustrated. There was nothing here, nothing!
“Damnit!” she cursed, then scanned the room for Frank. He was nowhere in sight.
“Where did Detective Holloway go?” she asked one of the constables, who just shrugged.
“Home, I think.”
“Home,” she repeated, then frowned. How unlike Frank! Then again they were hardly on speaking terms these days. Then again, speaking with Frank was not the problem. It was what they had been doing instead lately.
“Okay.. let me know if anything happens,” she told the constable, then walked out of there, and to her car.
A sudden urge to drive over to her place came over her. They needed to talk after all.. if they kept it up like this, half the Station would know every detail of their.. umm.. thing in no time. Talk. Yes. She would go over to his place and set a few ground rules.
The light was on at his place.
“Frank?” she called out as she entered. No one replied.
“Francis?” she called again, entering the living room. He was lying on the floor, unconscious. She pulled out her gun quickly, taking a step forward when someone stepped out of the shadows.
“Detective..” Millers greeted her with, “drop that gun before I put a bullet in your partner.” She froze, then slowly dropped the gun to the floor.
“Don’t worry, he’s only a bit drugged.. he will wake up to find you dead!”
“Why?” she asked quietly as he walked towards her.
“He was the key.. to get you..” Millers smiled, “and the new twist was bound to surprise you.”
She stared into his shining face, his fanatic eyes.. and with a yell she drove her knee into his stomach and her hand went for his hand, knocking the gun out of his grip. It flew across the room.
He screamed in pain, and she used the occasion to wriggle out of his grip, and make a go for her gun. He recovered quickly though, slamming her onto the floor with his own body, causing her to be trapped below him. But the gun was just within reach…
She reached for her gun desperately, as he reached for a lamp. He was quicker than her, but as he raised the lamp over his head, she got hold of the gun. The blow came just as the shot got fired and both fell limp to the floor. For a long time silence ruled, then Frank began moving slowly, moaning.
“What..” he muttered, then saw the two bodies on the floor.
“Rachel!” he called out, rushing to her side. She was covered in blood.. but he quickly realized it wasn’t hers, it was the damn bastard’s! She had a nasty bruise on her forehead though.. but she was breathing. He breathed a sigh of relief, then gently placed her in his lap, stroking her chin gently.
And outside the sirens were coming closer.
*********
Taking a deep breath, Frank prepared himself as he stood in the hallway outside Rachel’s hospital room. She was fine, he’d been told, a bit of a concussion that would keep her at the hospital a while, but she was far better off than Dr. Millers, who was down in the basement. In the morgue to be precise.
He hadn’t seen her since the ambulance had taken her off.
“Heya partner!” he exclaimed as he entered her hospital room. Her forehead was now bandaged, and besides a little paleness, she looked fine.
“Hey Frank,” she said without enthusiasm.
“I guess I owe you one,” he remarked. She still looked down.
“I need some time..” she said slowly, “and the rule about not seeing each other outside work still applies.”
“Since when did it become a rule?” he hissed, then took a deep, calming breath.
“Don’t do this Rach,” he pleaded, but she just shook her head.
“Just go Frank..” He stared at her, but she kept her gaze down.
“Okay..” he muttered, and got up, slowly. With one last glance at her he left the room. She kept her stare downwards though, not daring to look after him.
“Miss Goldstein?” came an unfamiliar voice.
“Yeah..” she looked up to see a doctor smiling at her quite broadly.
“I’m Ben Thomas.”
************
He entered the bar alone. A few colleagues greeted him, but he brushed of any attempt at conversation.
“Scotch,” he told the bartender briskly, sitting down. The others left him alone, almost seeing the dark storm clouds hanging above him.
“What have you done with Rachel?” the bartender asked.
“She’s still.. a bit shaken up,” Frank explained, wanting it to be the truth. The bartender just nodded, accepting it.
“Another one?”
“Yeah..” He stared at the empty glass. He had ruined it.
“To you Rachel,” he toasted grimly, and poured down the drink, the waved for another one.
And so he sat there, drinking. Alone.
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