”That and not having kids.” Maria joked.

”…We were going to.” Elisa confessed softly. ”We just hadn’t yet…”

”…I’m sorry.” The captain apologized.

”It’s okay. Just one more on the list of never was. Life just goes that way sometimes.” Elisa hypothesized, trying to keep Zen about the whole thing. It tended to help.

”That’s true.” Captain Chavez replied. And Elisa knew that she knew that too. Years ago, Maria had lost a brother in the line of duty. It was, Elisa thought, probably the reason why the captain always made a point of doing whatever she could to help when one of the people under her command suffered a similar loss. ”Well, hey, don’t let me keep you then. Go. Have your date. Enjoy yourself. If anyone deserves it, you do.”

”Thanks, Captain. I’ll do my best.” Elisa replied with a little forced cheerfulness. She still felt positively lousy about having lied to a superior officer whom she both respected, and considered a good friend. But, like she’d discussed with Dominique – there really wasn’t a better option (or, at least, if there was, she hadn’t been able to think of it in time).

”I’ll still need that written report on yesterday’s incident before you leave though. And I want you digging into this next chance you get. I want answers, Elisa. Your love life aside, none of this is sitting right. Get to the bottom of it. Call in help if you need it. The last thing we need are stories of armed mercenaries skulking around in buildings at night making the rounds in the press. Are we clear?” Captain Chavez asked.

”As glass, Captain.” Elisa told her, ruefully considering that she really should have considered how this might look if the press got wind of it and decided to make something of it. There were elections coming up in five months after all, and the captain was probably getting the usual pressure from up the chain that public safety, or at least the perception of public safety, was paramount. It was a crap shoot as to whether the press would run with something like this or not, but the idea that they might would, of course, have occurred to her. And, though she knew Maria distained politics and just wanted to do her job well, she also knew she had a family to consider and a demotion or a transfer wasn’t something she wanted to happen – That meant that appeasing the higher ups and keeping an eye on the press was just part of the job description.