"Come on, Meggy, be a sport," Mike Danko pleaded, leaning against the counter at the nurses station at Memorial Hospital. "It’s our anniversary."
"Mike, she’s not stupid," Meggy objected. "She knows that the duty chart comes out every Wednesday. She’s going to wonder why she’s not listed for being on duty that Friday."
"I already got that covered," Mike grinned confidently. "Just tell her that it was some sort of mix up. Those things happen all the time."
"And she’ll want me to assign her somewhere," Meggy pointed out, jotting some notes on the chart she’d held in her hands.
"Can’t she be assigned relief duty or something? You know, filling in if someone calls out sick."
"She’s not gonna like that, Mike. She’s got a lot of seniority. Stuff like that usually happens to trainees."
"I have to live with her and I’m willing to go for it." Mike took Meggy’s hand in his and squeezed it tightly. "Please? I’d owe you big time."
"All right, all right," she finally relented, not being able to take that puppy dog look in his eyes. "Who am I to stand in the way of romance?"
"Thanks, Meggy!" He gave her a quick hug. "You’re a doll."
"Yeah, yeah, I’m a doll," she grumbled, placing her hand on his chest and pushing him away gently. "Well, if you’ll excuse me some of us have to earn a living."
"I’m goin’, I’m goin’," Mike conceded, heading out the door before she could change her mind.
"Have fun this week-end," she called after him.
"We will," he chuckled over his shoulder.
"Oh, come on, Lieutenant!" Jill protested, sitting on the edge of Ryker’s desk at the station house and folding her arms across her chest petulantly. "Is it too much to ask that you do this one little thing for me?"
"What you fail to realize here is that there are procedures for these kinds of things," Ryker explained with exaggerated patience. "Besides, I will not commit forgery for you or your husband and that is final!"
"I’m not asking you to commit forgery," she objected indignantly. "I’m only asking that you let Mike have this Friday off. It’s his last 4x12 and it’s our anniversary. How can I fix a nice romantic dinner if he’s not home?"
"Mrs. Danko," he began in a slow but firm voice, "there are forms that have to be filled out – "
"Can’t you do that for him?" She interrupted sharply.
"And signed – " he continued in a steely voice.
"He can sign it when he comes back to duty," she interrupted confidently, looking at him with wide-eyed innocence.
"You think you’ve thought of everything. Don’t you, Miss Smarty Pants?" Ryker grumbled, straightening up ominously.
She nodded, trying very hard not to grin.
"And what do I get out of all this for my largesse?" Ryker finally growled, studying her through narrowed eyes.
"That you’ve made me very happy?" She ventured cautiously, taking his hand.
"I’m afraid that’s not going to do it," he insisted stubbornly, pulling his hand out of hers. "One home-cooked dinner some time within the next month on the night of my choosing."
"You’ve got it," she promised, impulsively leaning forward to kiss him on the cheek. "Thank you, Lieutenant."
He hugged her for a brief moment and then pushed her away as a matter of form. "Now, if you’ll excuse me, young lady, I do have a precinct to run. Unless there’s something else you wanted?" He asked expectantly, eyebrow raised.
"No, that’s it," Jill answered happily, bouncing to her feet.
"Well, if you expect this to be a surprise you’d better get going. Your husband’s due here in about – " Ryker glanced up at the clock on his office wall, "20 minutes."
"I didn’t realize it was that late," she stated in alarm. She turned to go, then impulsively hugged him one more time. "Thanks again, Lieutenant. This really means a lot to me."
"Go on, get out of here!" He groused, taking her the elbow and pointing her towards the door.
"All right, all right! I can take a hint." She opened the door a crack to make sure that she didn’t bump into Mike on her way out. She flashed him a quick smile over her shoulder and left while the coast was clear, fairly dancing out the door.
It was 1:30am Friday morning when Mike quietly made his way into the apartment, carefully cradling a dozen roses in his arms. He put them in a vase and left it on the dining room table, sure that Jill would see them when she woke up later that morning. He took off his shoes and made his way into the bedroom. She was sound asleep, hand resting on his pillow. He watched her for a few seconds, faint smile on his lips, then went into the bathroom to undress. He came out 15 minutes later and eased his way into bed, carefully moving her arm out of his way.
"Hmmmm," Jill moaned sleepily, rousing slightly as the bed bounced slightly from his weight. She leaned into his embrace contentedly. "What time is it?" She mumbled, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
"It’s late," he answered softly, pecking her on the lips. "Go back to sleep."
She snuggled closer to him and started nibbling on his ear.
"I thought you were tired," he chuckled, running his fingers through her hair.
"I don’t like when we’re on different shifts," she complained, wrapping her arms around him.
"I don’t, either," he admitted, moving closer to her and kissing her deeply.
"Watch it, Danko," she warned teasingly. "Don’t start something you’re not going to finish."
"Oh, I’ll finish," he vowed in a husky voice, hands making gentle circles on her back and kissing her again.
She took his hands in his for a second, surprising him. "Happy anniversary."
"Happy anniversary," he grinned.
The next morning she woke up and stretched lazily. She felt Mike’s arms still wrapped securely around her and she smiled contentedly. She took one look at the clock and jumped out of bed.
"What is it?" Mike mumbled groggily, abruptly jolted awake.
"I’m late," she exclaimed unhappily, dashing over to the closet to pull out a clean uniform.
"No, you’re not," Mike corrected, watching her in amusement.
"I’m working the 7 to 3 shift today and it’s already 10 o’clock." How could she hope to leave early to get dinner ready if she came in late? This threw her entire schedule off. "I can’t believe the alarm didn’t go off."
"Jill, relax. The alarm’s fine. I turned it off."
"What?!"
"I turned it off," he repeated with a decided lack of guilt, getting got out of bed and nuzzling her neck.
"Mike, I don’t have time for this right now!" She shoved him away abruptly.
"Sure you do," he continued. "I worked it all out with Meggy."
"What?" She asked blankly.
"It’s part of my anniversary surprise for you," Mike stated proudly, holding her close. "I thought we’d spend the day together…maybe go to the Pier. Make a real day of it."
"Why don’t we make it a week-end?" She countered guilelessly.
"Because I have to be at work at 3," he answered unhappily.
"No, you don’t," Jill replied. "I worked it out with Ryker. You don’t have to go back to work until Tuesday."
"You mean we’re both off for the next three days?" He asked in disbelief.
She nodded, glad that she was able to surprise him. "I was going to make you a romantic dinner…candlelight, the works. I was going to see if I could leave a little early this afternoon to pick up the groceries."
"I’ll tell you what. Since we’re both off for the entire week-end why don’t we spend a few days down at the Coast?"
"Can we afford it?" She asked dubiously.
"Hey, it’s our anniversary," he stated magnanimously, mentally going over their finances.
Jill stared at him for a few seconds. "Mike?" She finally ventured.
"Hmmm?"
"I love you." She wrapped her arms around him and held onto him tightly.
"You’d better," he warned, pulling them both back onto the bed.
"Mike, you’re incorrigible," she laughed, trailing her fingers down his chest.
"And you love it," he countered
with a grin, pulling her closer to him and burying his face in her hair.