1.5 - Coming Out of Her Shell

Danisha's application to the Bridgeport police department had gone without a hitch.  Today was the first day of her new life as a working single mother.  Before she left she welcomed her little darling's babysitter into the house.  He had an uncomfortable look about him, but when she saw the way Nielson lit up in his arms, she knew her beloved would be all right while she was gone.

With that settled she changed into business-appropriate attire and made her way out to the carpool that was coming to pick her up.  It was a beat-up old clunker that pulled up in front of her apartment but that was to be expected since she was starting out on the bottom.

Besides, it made her less conspicuous since it better blended with the area she currently lived in.

And so began her busy life.  It was wake up, shower, get both Nielson and herself breakfast, wait for the babysitter to arrive, and then off to work.  Day in and day out.  One thing she was able to start doing, though, was her own little investigation into her husband's death.  She now had a police badge to give her some authority, and thought that she'd start out with talking to her neighbors to see if they'd heard or witnessed anything that day.

 The first neighbor that she talked to was named Bradley.  He was the mail carrier for this part of Bridgeport.  He shrugged when she asked and explained that he spent most of his day on his route so he wouldn't have been home to see anything.  Unfortunately for Danisha, he seemed far more interested in flirting than answering her questions.

Danisha couldn't help but wonder if it was because of her attire, so she made sure she was more convincingly dressed next time.  She didn't have a police uniform yet since she was still at the bottom level, but she was able to find a trench-coat on sale that gave her an investigator vibe that she hoped would do the trick.

This time the man who answered was a butler named Bertram.  When asked whether he had seen anything he was equally unhelpful explaining that he only returned home on his days off and was rarely around.  It seemed that the change of clothes really hadn't helped.  Perhaps it would take learning more on how to be a real police officer before she would have any success in her search for answers.

Fortunately, despite her lack of success on the side, because of all of her hard work preparing for her career while she was pregnant and at home taking care of Nielson while he was a baby, it wasn't long before she got promoted.

Sure, she was only a desk jockey now, but at least the world seemed like a brighter place with the progress that she'd made.  And as she stepped out of the station and looked out over the city she even felt like there might be some hope for her life here for the first time since her husband died.

Her boss, Romeo, stepped out of the station with her.  "So, have you gotten to see much of Bridgeport, yet?" he asked.  When she shook her head he didn't seem surprised.  "Come on then.  You just got promoted.  You deserve to celebrate," he insisted.

He proceeded to lead her across the street into one of the high rises.  She looked around the first floor as they entered but didn't see much.  Romeo didn't stop there and headed straight for the elevator.  "This is a nice place.  Not many people come here," he explained, waiting for her to get into the elevator before pressing the button labeled '12'.

When they got up to the floor, Danisha started to feel nervous.  The entrance to the place was roped off and their was a mean-looking woman standing next to it glaring at them.

"Do you, uh, need to be some kind of celebrity to get in?" Danisha asked worriedly.  What if she made it so that Romeo couldn't even get in?  Surely she wasn't qualified to enter a place that had it's own guard.  But Romeo just winked at her and walked over to talk to the woman.

She was still scowling at them, but jerked her head to indicate that the two of them could go in.  Danisha let out a sigh of relief as Romeo guided her in and went straight to the bar.  "I'll have a Shillelagh," he informed the bartender who immediately set to work.  "How about you?" he asked, turning toward Danisha with a smile.

"Oh, uh, I don't really drink..." Danisha confessed with an embarrassed smile.  The last thing she needed to do was get drunk in front of her superior and make a fool of herself.  Romeo shrugged and took his drink and she was grateful that he didn't insist.

They spent the rest of the night chatting about various things from work to the city itself.  She could tell that Romeo was trying to see the good side to this city, and it might have actually been working a little.

Of course, she couldn't stay out too late with a toddler at home and soon excused herself.  When she finally got back home and dismissed the babysitter she scooped Nielson up into her arms.

"I'm sorry honey.  I know I've been spending a lot of time away from you, but I promise it's for a good cause.  And I just want you to know that I love you most of all."

That weekend, Danisha had been planning on spending all of her time with Nielson to make up for leaving him alone so much when she got a call from Bianca, her partner.  It seemed that she was having a party.  It would be good for work if she got closer to Bianca so reluctantly she left Nielson in the care of the babysitter again and headed off through the rain to Bianca's apartment which was in a much nicer part of town.

When she got there she smiled ruefully at Bianca.  "Sorry, I didn't have a costume," she explained, feeling sheepish since everyone else including Bianca were dressed as all sorts of different characters.

"Don't worry, at least you don't look like the weirdo in the bodysuit over there," Bianca whispered with a chuckle.  Danisha had to stifle a laugh too as she followed Bianca's gaze.

"Wow... that's certainly a... unique costume," Danisha mused, trying hard not to stare at the guy too openly.  She didn't want to be seen as rude, after all.  But it was hard not to stare.  Between that outfit and that hair...

"By the way, congrats on getting promoted.  I'm going to have to work my butt of if I'm going to stay one step ahead of you and maintain my position as the more-knowledgeable one," Bianca declared, lifting her hand up for a high five.

Danisha felt a little silly high-fiving at her age, but Bianca seemed genuinely excited and she didn't want to disappoint her so she went ahead and did it anyway.  "Thanks!"

"So, what are you supposed to be?" Danisha asked as she looked over Bianca's costume.  She definitely looked nice in it, but she wasn't sure if she was emulating anything in particular or just wearing a suit.

"I'm a magician.  See?  I do magic," Bianca replied, waving her hands about in vague magical gestures.

"So, how are you liking things here in Bridgeport?  I know you got off to a rocky start, but have you finally got settled in?" Bianca asked with a smile.

"Well, it was hard at first but I definitely think I'm finally getting used to things.  Our boss, Mr. Rake, has definitely been a big help," Danisha replied with a smile.  She wasn't sure if it was appropriate to call him just 'Romeo' around a co-worker, even though they weren't at work.  She knew that Romeo didn't mind her calling him that, but figured it was better to be safe than sorry.

"Rake, huh?" Bianca replied, and Danisha was surprised to see that she didn't seem pleased.  "Look, I know I shouldn't talk badly about our boss but I don't want you getting the wrong ideas about him," she informed Danisha, looking serious.  "Rake's a great cop and all, but his relationship with the ladies is less than pretty.  He's left a long line of broken hearts along the way and I don't want you to become one of them.  Not when you've already suffered from one broken heart."

Danisha was touched by Bianca's concern.  Although she completely disagreed with her.  Still, it was nice to have someone who cared enough about her to give her such a warning.  "Don't worry, my heart still belongs to Nielson.  Mr. Rake is just a good mentor and a friend.  I wouldn't want anything more from him," she assured.

"Well, all right.  But if you want a break from him I'd be happy to show you around too," Bianca replied with a shrug.  "But for now, how about we just settle for me teaching you the wonderful skill of Foosball?" she suggested, having noticed the guy in the bodysuit had moved on.

Danisha quickly agreed and moved over to the strange game.  She wasn't very good at it, but Bianca didn't rub it in her face and definitely went easy on her.

Suddenly, Danisha's phone started ringing.  "One sec, I gotta take this," Danisha informed Bianca, calling a pause to their game as she answered, worrying it might be the babysitter.

Instead, it was just the man they'd been talking about.  Romeo Rake.  As she answered the phone, Bianca's warning rose up in her mind, but there was nothing wrong with taking a call from a friend.

So then, why did she feel so guilty?


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Hello readers!  Here's the latest installment of the Gaul family legacy.  This shows that Danisha is developing a social life outside of just Nielson.  I was originally going to make this chapter longer, but I decided to shorten it and leave some of the stuff that I was going to include in this chapter for the next chapter.  So you'll just have to wait on that until I finish shooting the rest of the scenes for that chapter.  I hope you enjoyed this chapter!