DISCLAIMER: Women's Murder Club and its characters are the property of James Patterson, 20th Century Fox Television and ABC. No infringement intended.
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If You Really Mean It, Sorry Is Enough
By Demeter
"I'm sorry, I can't chat with you now," Jill told her gleefully. "Cindy is coming by in a few minutes, she said she needs some cheering up, so I'm taking her out for lunch."
"She said that?" Lindsay looked stricken. "Okay, I really need to go and see Claire about the results of--"
Jill gave her a pointed look, and her friend seemed to realize that she'd been seen through.
"Whatever," she said meekly.
Lindsay stopped cold in the doorway of the morgue when she saw Cindy standing there with Claire, and she hastily stepped back. There was no way she could run into Cindy without having made all the arrangements she needed to pay her dues, and pay, she would have to.
She could understand why Cindy was mad at her; forgetting about the one-year-anniversary was a biggie, a faux-pas of dangerous dimensions. So she'd been coming home from the crime scene, shower and crash immediately, but it was the same kind of excuses that had made her marriage go to hell. She'd made a few phone calls in the morning. Now was the trick to evade an irate Cindy for the rest of the day.
"Um. Hi."
"Hi, Linds." Tom looked up, obviously glad about a chance at having a break with the paperwork he was doing. "What can I do for you?"
Hide me until Jill and Cindy have left the building?
"I don't know, I just wondered if... anything new from the Chief regarding the Morelli case?"
"No."
"Oh. Okay."
"Lindsay, are you alright?"
She opened the door to look down where Jill and Cindy were just walking out of the bullpen, Cindy's body language clearly signaling that she was still upset.
Lindsay turned to Tom with a brief fake smile. "Never been better. Thanks, Tom. See you."
Cindy let herself into the apartment with her key. Martha came running to greet her enthusistically, and Cindy crouched down to pet her.
"Lindsay Boxer!" she called, "I know you're home. There's no use in trying to avoid me." Cindy walked further into the room, stopping cold at the sight of a candle-lit dinner set for two. It wasn't until now that she noticed the smell of something delicious cooking in the kitchen, and the soft music playing.
"Okay, that's a start," she muttered to herself, wondering why her vision was starting to blur. She had been mad at Lindsay who had claimed that she'd changed from the times of her first marriage, paying more attention. There was no denying though that she was trying.
"Linds? You can come out now. I'm almost ready to forgive you..."
The End