Night Vision

By Z

PRECINCT HOUSE, 5:25 PM
"Are you insane, Hunter? I run to the restroom for two minutes and you volunteer us for surveillance duty?" McCall’s voice was rising as each new syllable spilled from her lips, reaching a crescendo with, "and for the GRAVEYARD SHIFT?"
With his partner’s hands pressed firmly to her hips and her toe tapping furiously awaiting his response, Hunter warily answered, "I didn’t think you’d mind. Just this afternoon you were saying how beautiful it was and how you wished you could be outside to enjoy it. Tomorrow you can. Besides, it was either that or spend all day here tomorrow. I thought it would be a nice change of pace."
"Yeah, well, I’d like to be awake for it, too if you don’t mind. Don’t you think you should have asked me first?"
"OK, I’m sorry! Next time I’ll ask. Now, will you please call off the hounds, McCall? I promise I’ll make it up to you. Why don’t you come over to my house before we have to go and I’ll make you dinner? Anything you want," he offered, flashing her a ‘please forgive me’ look. McCall thought about it for a moment then sighed heavily. "OK, but only if you make that lasagna you promised me last month but never delivered."
"But that takes hours!" Hunter moaned.
"Then you’d better get started, don’t you think?" She grabbed her purse and headed for the elevator. "I’m gonna take a nap. I’ll be over at nine. Oh, and no garlic Hunter," she ordered, wagging her finger.
"What?! Italian food with no garlic? I don’t think so, McCall. You bring the Tic-Tacs. I’ll take care of everything else."

HUNTER’S CAR, PARKED ON A DESERTED STREET IN A RUNDOWN VENICE NEIGHBORHOOD - SOMETIME IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT.
"Let me see those for a sec, Hunter."
"Why? You see something?"
"I’m not sure. Just let me have them." Hunter did as she ordered and handed the infrared night vision binoculars over to his partner. "What is it, McCall?"
"Never mind. It’s just a homeless man rummaging through the trashcans." She examined the high tech binoculars before returning them to Hunter. "What did we do before they came out with these things? You can see everything so clearly. Or in this case you can see nothing so clearly." She let out a yawn and stretched her arms. "Tell me again what we’re doing here, Hunter? It’s nights like this that make me wish I had a nine to five job."
"Yeah, right! You’d be bored out of your mind, McCall and you know it. Besides, this isn’t so bad. You get to spend the night with me, don’t you?" he teased. McCall rolled her eyes, "Yeah, it’s my dream come true. How’d you know?" Her demeanor swiftly changed as a thought occurred to her. "Hey, Hunter? Where do you see yourself ten years from now?"
"I don’t know. Probably sitting in a car in front of a seedy apartment building at three in the morning." He paused and looked his partner straight in the eye. "I hope it’s with you."
"Don’t count on it, Big Guy. Don’t get me wrong -- I love my job and I love working with you, but if I’m still doing this in ten years, shoot me, OK?"
"Why? What’s so bad about doing this?" Hunter asked, genuinely bewildered.
"I don’t know...sometimes it just feels like it’s sucking the life out of me. Not all the time, but every now and then. Don’t you ever feel like that?"
"In a way, I guess, but I’m pretty good at keeping it in perspective. I always thought you were, too."
"Yeah, for the most part I am, but I don’t think there’s any way I can do this forever. What would you be if you weren’t a cop, Hunter?"
"A cop."
McCall shook her head derisively. "No, really, what would you be? Play along with me." A mischievous grin grew on Hunter’s face. "I’d play with you any day, McCall. You don’t even have to ask." He was met with a hiss of exasperation. "I’m SERIOUS, Hunter! Don’t you ever think about it?"
"Uh uh. I don’t really think there is a "weren’t a cop" for me, McCall. I was born to be a cop and I can’t imagine doing anything else. So where do you think YOU’LL be in ten years, now that you’ve crushed my dream of spending it with you in my car?"
McCall paused, debating whether to share her feelings with him considering the kind of mood he was in, but plunged in. "Well, you know that I have to have kids some day. That’s really important to me."
Hunter nodded his head sympathetically. "Yeah, I know it is, McCall. But aren’t you forgetting something?"
"Oh, you mean like a man? I’m beginning to think the man I’m looking for doesn’t exist."
"Well, maybe you’re just too picky. Or maybe you’re not looking in the right places. Describe him to me."
"NO!"
"No? Why not? Maybe I already know him and can set you up."
"Because I don’t trust you, Hunter."
"Oh, HURT me, McCall!" He stuck out his lower lip like a seven-year-old who’s Mom wouldn’t buy him candy at the grocery store. "And I thought we were friends," he pouted.
"Oh, brother! You’re such a baby, Hunter! All right, already," she said, giving in way too easily. But you have to promise you won’t make fun of me, OK?" She raised an eyebrow awaiting his oath. "OK, I promise," he swore, crossing his heart with his index finger. "So spill it."
McCall eyed her partner suspiciously, but proceeded. "Well, first off, he has to make me laugh. That’s why I broke up with Doug. He was a great guy, but he had absolutely no sense of humor. That just won’t do. Secondly, he has to be at least as tough as I am -- no wimps for this girl. But he has to able to express his feelings, too. And it goes without saying that he has to be intelligent and not just in the IQ sense, but in common sense, too."
"Hmm... I’m beginning to see your problem, McCall. I..."
"SHHHHHH! Don’t interrupt me while I’m on a roll, Hunter. Did I mention that he also has to be athletic and attractive? He doesn’t have to look like a model or anything, but he has to have something about him that makes me smile when I look at him." Hunter could almost hear his brain clicking as he mentally checked off the requirements on his partner’s list.
"Oh, and one of the most important things is that he’s also my friend, someone I can talk to and who can talk to me."
Hunter’s eyes widened at that one. "Is that ALL?" he asked, sounding a little too interested..
"Almost... he has to be a good kisser, too." Hunter felt like he would burst if he didn’t open his mouth soon. "You KNOW who you just described, don’t you?" The ridiculous grin on his face clued her in to what he was thinking.
"Nuh UH! I did NOT, Hunter! Geez, you’re sure full of yourself tonight, aren’t you?" she said, smacking him on the arm. There was a momentary silence as she went back, point by point in her head in an attempt to refute him. She hoped he couldn’t read the look on her face when it hit her. "Besides, I said he has to be a good kisser," she covered.
The expression on Hunter’s face changed to a scowl. "What makes you think I’m not a good kisser? Who TOLD you I’m not a good kisser? I’ll have you know I’ve had nothing but compliments!" McCall chuckled at his sudden indignation. "I’m sure you have, Hunter. I was just saying that I wouldn’t know."
Hunter raised his eyebrows suggestively. "Would you like to?"
"Um... can I get back to you on that?" An interminable uncomfortable silence of ten seconds followed before Hunter opened his mouth. "Contractor," was all he said. McCall scrunched up her face in confusion. "What?"
"A contractor. That’s what I would be if I weren’t a cop. Building things from the ground up might be rewarding."
"Oh! I could see you doing that. You’re a take-charge kind of guy and you’re good with your hands. Yeah, I could definitely see that."
"So you think I’m good with my hands but not a good kisser? That seems a little contradictory, McCall, don’t you think?" McCall felt like slapping the silly grin off his face.
"Geez! Is EVERYTHING about sex to you?" Hunter didn’t answer, just continued his goofy grin. "So, describe the woman who could win YOUR heart, Hunter. I shared. Now it’s your turn." His grin didn’t quite disappear, but it changed form. "She’d be just like you, McCall."
"Come on, Hunter! Can’t you EVER be serious?"
"I’m COMPLETELY serious. She’d be exactly like you." McCall opened her mouth in disbelief. She felt suddenly nervous and uncomfortable; a feeling she’d never had around her partner before. The voice coming out of her mouth was quiet and unsure, "Um... have you ever wondered what it would be like...?" she paused, checking his eyes to see if he was on the same wavelength but before she could finish he cut her off.
"Have YOU?"
"I asked you first," she countered, her uncharacteristically shy smile disarming him. "Once or twice," he answered, smiling back. "OK, about a thousand times." He cocked his head to the side and squinted his eyes, nervously anticipating her response to the question. "It’s your turn, McCall. Have YOU?"
"I’m..." she cleared her throat after the first word got caught and started over. "I’m wondering right now."
Hunter sat speechless, his mouth slightly open in an ‘I can’t believe she just said that’ pose. McCall’s lips formed a beguiling half smile as she became aware of the power she suddenly held over him. The two-foot distance between them on the bench-style front seat suddenly seemed two feet too long. Or was it two feet too short? She wasn’t quite sure. The airspace surrounding them had the energy of a super charged electrical current and she could almost see it dancing around Hunter’s cupped hand as it moved in what seemed like slow motion toward her face. She felt herself being pulled toward him, not by a physical force, but something else -- something more powerful and persuasive. As they moved tentatively toward each other, she studied his eyes. Even in the dark they seemed bluer than she’d recalled -- and warmer. As they closed to within inches of each other, she watched the blue in his eyes disappear behind eyelids. Her own dark brown eyes closed involuntarily as her lips touched Hunter’s for the first time in a lovers’ kiss. Soft, sensuous, exciting, sensitive -- those were the words she would later use to describe the feeling of her partner’s lips on hers. She parted them allowing him entry into what was formerly forbidden territory. His tongue mingled gently with hers in an elegant dance that sent a shot of adrenaline from the pit of her stomach into her chest and radiated goosebumps down her arms. He started to pull away but made it no further than a couple of inches before being drawn back to her lips for one last sweet kiss, then he backed away for real, checking her eyes for her reaction.
"Wow! I never thought..." McCall stopped in midsentence, the connection between her brain and mouth not functioning well enough for her to finish.
"*I* did," Hunter interjected, a smile growing on his face. He ran his fingers over the smooth skin on her cheek and watched her face turn pink, then darken to red. "Are you embarrassed, Dee Dee?" He placed tender kisses on her warm cheek, not waiting for an answer. When he pulled back, she waved her hand in front of her face. "Whew! Is it hot in here, or is it just me?" she asked, continuing to fan herself. ‘Geez, that was stupid,’ she thought, mocking her own words in her head. She looked back at Hunter who was still smiling. "Quit looking at me at like that, Hunter! You’re making me nervous."
"Why? Are you sorry you kissed me?" he asked, his smile retreating.
"God, NO!" she quickly answered, placing her hand on his face. "I’m just not used to you looking at me like that. It might take some getting used to."
"Well, I guess you’re just gonna HAVE to get used to it, Sergeant, because I intend to keep doing it -- if that’s all right with you, anyway." She hooked her hand around the back of his neck and pulled him close. "I’ll work on it, Sergeant. I promise," she whispered. She kissed him softly then backed away and lightly ran her fingertips over his lips. A smile identical to the one Hunter had on his face seconds before crossed hers. "Why is it I see this so clearly now and didn’t have a clue before?" she asked.
"It’s night, McCall. You see like a cat in the dark. So do I... I can think of a few other things I’d like to do in the dark with you, too."
McCall’s mind whirled with wicked comebacks but only one word had time to cross her lips before her partner’s did, as he leaned her backwards onto the seat.
"Meow."