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These words, commonly thought to himself with a certain incredulous vehemence, were a staple of Taylor McCarthy's life. Most often they were uttered during brief moments of clarity buried within the impulse (and often alcohol) fueled, reckless abandon that had come to define the young man. By now he was used to such instances as looking out over a backyard swimming pool from his vantage point on the roof of the adjacent house and those words floating across his mind. Hell, he'd even thought that very same sentence as a child sitting in a police cruiser, much like he was now as an adult. Of course, the first time it happened he was sitting in the back of the car, not behind the wheel.
Taylor cast a short glance across the center console filled with various switches, buttons, his mounted computer and locked shotgun toward his field training officer. He was a gruff, veteran patrol officer recently moved over from the K9 unit to help with teaching the young, incoming officers the ropes. He'd been assigned to Taylor when the young Irishman had started just three weeks prior. So far Taylor was progressing well, making all the usual mistakes rookies tend to but every day was a learning experience even when you were a decades long veteran.
To Taylor it was all so surreal. He'd moved back to the United States through a work program that would send him through police academy and lock in a position with the Stagfort PD. In a year, if he was still employed, he'd have the opportunity to try out for that 'Task Force Champion' thing he was told was a big deal. Even though academy had been nearly half a year long and he'd been a patrol officer for nearly a month none of it seemed real. Here he was, Taylor Fucking McCarthy, wearing a goddamn badge. It had to be a sign of the coming apocalypse. It just had to.
"This car here." The FTO said, pointing to a sedan that pulled out in front of the cruiser. "Didn't signal and..." He drew out the last word before nodding curtly and snapping his fingers for emphasis. "Brake light out."
With an already practiced flick of the wrist Taylor activated the flashing blue and red lights atop his car, causing the driver in front of them to carefully pull to the side of the road. Taylor followed suit, checking his mirror to make sure he was clear of oncoming traffic before climbing out of the cruiser and into the light but cold rain. He moved along the vehicle, approaching the open driver's side window. "License and registration." He said in a flat, even tone that skirted the line between polite and demanding.
An annoyed sigh fell from the brunette's lips as she pulled over. She had dance rehearsals in twenty minutes and she was already late.
To save some time, though, she digged out her licence and registration as the cop moved towards the vehicle. She rolled down the window and before the cop could finish, she'd already flicked her wrist towards the window, the licence and registration ready for plucking.
She kept her eyes on the clock on her dashboard. Eighteen minutes left.
She wondered if she'd save any time by taking the road past the park instead of the downtown one...
Taylor McCarthy
I gave you the last word, and that's the last thing you'll take from me
It was all routine by this point. Even though Taylor had only been out of the academy for three weeks he'd already done a hundred traffic stops, at least. They were, after all, the bread and butter of a patrol officer's day. One never knew what they would find whenever contacting civilians on the street. Accepting the offered credentials, Taylor's eyes shifted to the driver and his heart instantly skipped a beat. She was the last person he expected to see and this was decidedly not the right situation to see her.
"Uh." He paused and cleared his throat, eyes flicking toward the FTO standing across the car from Taylor. "Do you know why I pulled you over?" Taylor asked, his unmistakable Irish accent coming through clearly as he attempted, probably in vain, to maintain his command of the situation. Perhaps if he acted like nothing was wrong this could all pass without getting weird.
She didn't think about it at first. It took a moment for the accent, and the voice, to register. She hadn't heard it in a long time, after all. "I'm sure you're about to tell me." There was no malice in the voice, apart from a faint trace of annoyance. It wasn't necessarily directed at him, though. She was late, after all. Then the pull of familiarity finally reached her and she jerked her head to the side, brown eyes narrowing.
He worked for the law enforcement now? The thought almost made her laugh out loud. Almost.
With a sigh, she turned her gaze forward again. She was so not dealing with this right now.
Taylor McCarthy
I gave you the last word, and that's the last thing you'll take from me
This was not how Taylor wanted to meet Ellie again after being away for so long. After so much time he wasn't even sure she would want to see him again, though this certainly wasn't going to do anything to clear up what was already a muddied situation. It didn't help that he was being scrutinized by his ball-busting field training officer all the while stumbling through what should have been a routine traffic stop.
"Uh, right." Taylor's brow furrowed as he glanced down at the license in his hand. There was no need to run anything. He knew Ellie was clean but the general rule of thumb while in training was everything buy the book. "You didn't signal at the intersection and you've got a tail light out." Taylor spoke with a certain strength and confidence returning to his voice and demeanor. This was his job, after all, and he was still learning how important it was to put his own emotions aside. "Alright. So just sit tight."
And with that Taylor stood straight and started back toward his cruiser, hand coming up to the mic clipped to his chest to call in the driver's license and plate number. It took just a few short minutes for everything to come back just as Taylor suspected; no warrants, everything current, vehicle not reported stolen. Taylor used the time to undoubtedly make Ellie's day just a bit worse by writing out the ticket. Once the dispatcher finished relaying the information, Taylor moved back to the driver's side and handed back Ellie's license and registration. "Try and remember to signal." He said curtly, "Especially on rainy days. I'm giving you thirty days to get your light fixed, go ahead and keep this with you-" he handed over the small slip of paper that was Ellie's 'fix it' ticket "-in case you get pulled over again."
What Taylor hadn't let his training officer see was the sticky note attached to the back of the ticket with the name of a small, hole in the wall coffee shop near downtown with the time '6pm' scrawled beneath it.
She didn't look at him even as he told her to sit tight. She did, however, look up at the mirror as he moved away. Her day really couldn't possibly get any worse at this point. She could only hope that this would move by quickly and that she wouldn't be too late for her rehearsal.
Drumming her fingers against the steering wheel as she waited, Eleanor was a little tempted to just start the car and leave. Of course, even she knew that would be stupid. Still, it was tempting. Leaning back against the seat as Taylor returned, the brunette pursed her lips. "Mmhm." She grabbed the licence and the registration, putting them both where they belonged.
And then there was a ticket. She might have said something had it not been for the sticky note distracting her. Looking at it, she looked up at the familiar face, an eyebrow arched. She then crumbled the note and stuck her head out of the window, looking towards the other officers. "Is it against regulations for him to give me personal notes, telling me to meet him privately?" She called out. Quickly, her gaze returned to the familiar face she knew all too well; A sugar sweet smile on her lips.
"Thank you, officer."
Taylor McCarthy
I gave you the last word, and that's the last thing you'll take from me
Taylor had already started back toward the police cruiser when Ellie had started addressing his training officer. Eyes closed and Taylor let out a low sigh as he reached for the door to the car. "Indeed it is, ma'am." Came the terse response followed by a glare directed at the rookie cop. "I apologize for the lack of professionalism." And that was that. Both officers returned to the car, the senior obviously annoyed. There was going to be hell to pay the moment the doors to the cruiser closed and they were outside of earshot of the public.
Taylor quickly attempted to explain the situation before he could be read the riot act which did, at least, save his skin from being written up. What it didn't do, however, was prevent the short yet scathing talk of allowing personal lives to bleed into work and most assuredly set up what was going to be a long, embarrassing hazing session directed at Taylor's feeble attempt to get back together with his ex.
In many ways it was as if things hadn't changed in the years he'd been gone. It was a feeling he was all too familiar with that left him wondering if all this was even worth it.
