Chapter Five. Leslie unlocked the door to their apartment and went inside, hearing the TV blaring a baseball game

Leslie unlocked the door to their apartment and went inside, hearing the TV blaring a baseball game. She sighed. Just once she'd like to come home without there being a game on, without ESPN on, or without one of Michael's buddies over competing in a video game. Just once.

"I'm home," she called as she walked into the empty living room and on to their bedroom. She paused at the door to the spare room, knocking loudly. "I'm home," she said again.

The volume was muted and a door flung open as Michael rushed out into the hallway and gave her a bear hug, picking her up and twirling her around.

"And how was your first day on the job?"

She laughed. "Please put me down." He did. "It was fine. I came aboard in the middle of a case, so I'm kinda lost." She leaned closer for a kiss. "And the neighbors hate you. You can practically hear the TV in the parking lot."

"Sorry. Got carried away." He turned to go back to his game, then stopped. "Plans for dinner?" he asked.

"No."

"Good. Jeff has invited us up for pizza. We've got a friendly wager on the Rangers game. You know what a big Yankees fan he is."

"Pizza, huh? Well, you know what, why don't you go without me? I've got a case file to read through."

"You don't mind?"

"No, of course not."

A part of her knew she should mind, of course. Jeff was his best friend. He also lived one floor above them. And on the third floor lived Miles and Russell. The four of them had been buddies since college. The problem was, they all thought they were still in college. At least Jeff dated occasionally. Miles and Russell never dated. But they had season tickets to every professional sports team in the Metroplex. And more times than not, Jeff and Michael were their dates.

She kept thinking it would change. When they started dating seriously, she thought Michael would stop spending so much time with them. Then, when they moved in together, she assumed he would stay home more. She now knew even if they got married, it wouldn't change. Not unless they moved into a house in a remote neighborhood. And so far Michael had balked at that suggestion.

And she, in turn, balked at setting a wedding date.

Casey sat on her deck overlooking White Rock Lake. She'd traded her water bottle for a glass of wine, which had turned into two. It was the deck. She found she could sit out here for hours, just staring at the water, her mind drifting. Even though it was nearly September and the days were still as hot as mid-summer, the evenings turned cooler, chasing the humidity away, hinting at what fall would feel like.

She'd only lived here six months, but it felt like home. The lake was small and surrounded by the city, but it was as peaceful as you could get within the city limits. And it was convenient. Tori and Sam lived just on the other side of the lake, making it hard for her to say no when Sam invited her for dinner. Which was often.

She smiled and sipped her wine, thinking how much her life had changed since she'd met Tori. As she'd told Tori once, she had a lot of friends, a lot of buddies on the force who she could grab a beer with or a quick dinner. But she didn't have a really close friend, and she certainly didn't have a lover to come home to every night. Well, one of those things had changed. Tori had become that close friend she'd craved. They escaped often for a beer after work, just to talk, just to share things. Sam didn't mind their friendship. In fact, she encouraged it. And Tori had finally told her about her family and their murders. Casey had wept with her as Tori recounted that night all those years ago. And Casey had finally told Tori about how her brother had forbidden her to see his kids, forbid her to contact them. She leaned her head back, looking into the sky, remembering that day so well. Her niece was a tomboy, just like Aunt Casey. Her niece wanted to be a cop, just like Aunt Casey. And her niece never wanted to get married, just like Aunt Casey. That had been the breaking point. Casey was a bad influence, so her brother had a talk with her. Don't come around anymore, he'd said. Don't call. You're not needed here.

Damn, that had hurt. Her niece was all of twelve years old. She didn't understand. Hell, Casey didn't understand. So she reached out to her grandfather, hoping he could talk some sense into her brother. No. He'd agreed with him. None of them wanted Erica to turn out like Casey. They all had big plans for Erica. Doctor or lawyer, anything but a lowly cop. Anything but a lesbian cop. And so she'd faded away from the family. Even her mother, she lost touch with too. Of course, her mother had been ostracized from the family years before. A bitter divorce will do that. Her father's death hadn't helped ease the strain between her mother and her brother.

That was seven years ago. Her grandfather's death and funeral had come and gone, all without Casey. Oh, she'd tried. But her brother had said a firm no, she was not wanted there. And her niece's high school graduation had just come and gone. For that, she had made no attempt to go, to contact Erica. It had been too many years.

So she made up for her lack of a family by being a friend to everyone and surrounding herself with lots of people. And for the most part, she was happy. She dated some. Not a lot. Dating took time. But she wasn't lonely. Not really. All she had to do was pick up the phone. Which she'd been doing less and less of lately. As much as she enjoyed being around Tori and Sam, it made her realize how superficial the relationships in her life were. What Tori and Sam had was something Casey longed to emulate. That special someone, that one person who loved you without doubt, without cause. That's what she wanted in her life. And so she'd stopped most of the meaningless one-night stands. If she were simply craving a physical release, she could get that all by herself. The last time she'd slept with someone without worrying about tomorrow had been when Marissa Goddard had buzzed in and out of town in a week's time. And while the sex had been good--great, in fact--it was still just a meaningless act once it was all said and done.

So for now, she was content sitting on her deck, watching the water and the twinkling of lights that surrounded the lake. For now, she had her career. And she had two really good friends in Tori and Sam. For now, that was enough.

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