To Serve & Protect: 10-7, 10-42

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh," Pat breathed. "Lovely." With her knees on either side of Mike, Pat was in the perfect position to control the speed and intensity of their lovemaking. She took her husband's hands and place them over her breasts. She winked at him as he smiled broadly. "You're always trying to get your hands on them anyway."

He responded by carefully sliding his palms in circles over the soft globes. Her already hard nipples bent and sprang back up again and again as he brushed over them. She began to slowly and lightly bounce up and down on his cock. At first she moved less than an inch. As the friction inside her and on her breasts increased she moved faster and farther.

Pat still tried to keep a moderate tempo. She didn't want her or Mike to come too soon. Nights alone in the house were meant to be savored. Still, his cock sliding up in her, so familiar after all these years and yet always so different, made her pulse quicken to a temple pounding speed.

Mike was loving it. The sight of his petite wife bouncing wildly on his erection brought his breathing to a pitch that made his chest look like a bellows. It was all he could do not to grab her and pull her all the way down on him, ramming upwards into her. Tonight she would set the tempo and he would follow.

Pat was moving faster and harder, using the strength of her still firm legs when suddenly the house was filled with noise as both their beepers went off. Mike's eyes came all the way open. "Oh SHIT. Honey!"

Pat looked wildly around her, hoping one of the beepers at least was in reach. Neither was. She reached out and grasped his shoulders. Using them for additional leverage she slammed up and down the full length of Mike's shaft. He grasped her nipples. Rather than pinch or pull them he simply held them tight and let her movements stretch them.

"Oh god bless meeeeeeeeeeee," cried Pat. She felt Mike stiffen completely as the first blast of his cum shoot up inside her. She dropped completely down, driving the spurting head against her soft spot. She leaned back, pulling her breasts into taunt cones and came with a long shuddering wail.

For just a few seconds Pat rested her torso against Mike's. Then duty overcame them both and they scrambled to find their beepers. They grabbed cell phones and dialed the numbers given them. Pat slipped off Mike's shirt and ran nude for the bedroom. Mike frantically stuffed his member back in his pants. He heard the toilet flush and Pat came back out hopping up and down trying to get in her jeans. She had pulled a t-shirt on and even in the moment Mike enjoyed the thought she wasn't wearing underwear.

Mike got through to his office. He turned pale. Pat was talking and met his eyes. She nodded.

As they both hung up Pat took a deep breath. "Okay, he's alright, not injured at all. I can't make the call official until I investigate the scene, but right now it looks like a righteous shooting. I'll go straight to the Corners." She hesitated. "Mike?" He looked at her and she continued. "Given the circumstances, wait until I call you to come. I know its your case, but its Internal Affairs now."

"Of course, Honey. Besides, both of us together could look like either double teaming or special privilege. Neither of what he needs. I'll go to the office though."

Mike got to the headquarters building and received a quick briefing from the lieutenant on duty. All he had available were the radio transmission, but pretty obviously Mike, Jr. had been involved in a spectacular gunfight at the little hamlet called Corners. Pat called him before he really had time to digest it and certainly before he had time to get impatient.

"Come on out here," she told him. "Everything looks good and Mikie is untouched, although pretty shook now that the adrenaline has worn off. We do need to discuss one thing."

Mike drove quickly but without running code. He scanned the parking lot when he arrived. Two huge holes in the storefront's windows and shards of glass scattered outside indicated what had happened. He parked. Pat was standing by the door, writing on her clipboard.

"Captain Gibson," Mike said formally, although with a twinkle in his eyes.

"Deputy Inspector Gibson," she replied, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

"Can you brief me on the situation, please?"

"Certainly." Pat referred to her notes and statements. "At approximately 11 PM two masked individuals entered the store and confronted the clerk and two customers. The clerk was forced to open the cash drawer and all three were ordered to lay on their stomachs. They then heard Deputy Gibson's voice as he apparently challenged the alleged suspects. At least three handgun shots were heard before Deputy Gibson fired twice with his shotgun. Backup and emergency medical aid were summoned immediately. Both hold up men were pronounced DOA at County General. They have been identified as Lucas Pendleton and Billy Toliver."

Mike raised his eyebrows. "All these years since that night at the Senior Citizen's Center. I guess some old boys never learn."

Pat sighed. "I guess not. They got in front of a Gibson and a shotgun a second time, and this time they thought they'd shoot it out." She paused and resumed her official voice. "I have examined the store's videotape surveillance system which confirms Officer Gibson, in full uniform, confronted them and that each subject fired at least once before he did. There will be no department charges, but rather a recommendation for an award for valor. The matter will be presented to the District Attorney's Office. I will recommend it be sent to the Grand Jury where it can be reviewed again and then dismissed."

"WHEW," Mike let out his breath. "Sounds good." He looked thoughtfully at his wife. "What are you not telling me?"

She reached inside her jacket pocket and took out a statement form. "I made him rewrite it after I talked to the customers and the clerk. Apparently none of the three of them caught anything but the sound of his voice, not what he said. The video tape is silent. I told him I understood, but that he would have to learn some calm, even in situations of high stress."

Mike read the form. His eyes opened wide. "He really said that?"

"That's what he told me."

Mike handed the form back to Pat. "I WILL have a talk with our son. As tempting as it is when confronting two armed suspects, proper identification as a law-enforcement officer does not include the words 'Surprise Motherfuckers!'." ...

***********

..."All good kids, everyone of them." Mike nodded in the warmth of the sun. In a few minutes Pat felt the slow rise and fall of his chest that indicated he was asleep. She continued to lay against him. For just now she wasn't in pain and she didn't want to risk moving. Her eyes fluttered shut.

Pat yawned deeply. When had she fallen asleep? The noise of the party seemed far away. At the same time she felt invigorated, better than she had in she couldn't remember when. Her head was still nestled on Mike's chest. Feeling the steady breathing she realized he was still asleep himself.

A grin crossed her face, matching the thought in her mind. Careful not to disturb him, she slowly slipped her hands to his sides. Then, just where she knew it would affect him the most, she tickled him.

"HEY!" Mike came immediately awake. Laughing, she sprang from the swing and darted down the steps onto the lawn. "I see you, you tease." Putting one hand on the porch railing he vaulted it. Landing lightly on his feet he spread his arms and stalked his wife. His eyes twinkling, he mock growled, "You're mine now, my pretty."

They both stopped. They looked at each other in amazement. Gone was the white hair, the glasses and the stooped postures. Gone were the wrinkles, and the aches and the constant pain. Pat looked at a tall man of about 30, with dark hair and eyes and a powerful build. Mike saw a woman in her mid-twenties, her smooth skin and curves hinting at the agility and speed she possessed. Both appeared as they had when they first met.

Pat sucked in her breath, looking past Mike. He turned and followed her gaze. Slowly they both moved towards the porch and the elderly couple still asleep on the swing.

"Mike?" spoke Pat softly. "I think that's us."

"They, or we, or us, or whomever. I don't think they're breathing." He answered quietly.

She looked at him and swallowed. "I guess that means we're ... dead."

They looked again and the porch was gone. A growing light caught their eyes. They felt themselves drawn towards it. Taking each other's hands they walked that way.

"Pat? Are you scared honey?"

"Never when I'm with you." She squeezed his hand.

"And what would you be scared of anyway, you two?" A familiar soprano voice asked them. The couple saw the slim figure and floating dark hair of their dearest friend.

"Linda!" Pat and Mike exclaimed together. They rushed to their long gone friend, heroically killed in the line of duty years ago.

"And about time, you two. YOU," she pointed at Pat, "Should have come home two years ago. But we knew you wouldn't leave without him. We thought the big lunk," She suddenly crossed her eyes and stuck her tongue out at Mike, as she always done when she teased him, "here was going to live forever."

"We?"

"All of us who knew you and loved you. People you spent a lot of time with; people whose lives you only brushed briefly. Some people you never even both met."

A crowd seemed to have gathered. So many people. One woman walked up and took Pat's hands.

"Hi Lori." Pat smiled. "Thank you."

Lori smiled. "Thank you, Pat. You were a wonderful mother."

"How did you know her?" Mike asked, looking at his first wife and then at Pat.

"Oh she was around. I never heard her, never saw her, but I knew she was there. I used to talk to her about the girls. Later I talked to her about all the children."

"I don't understand it," marveled Mike. He looked around. Bob Dupree smiled and waved. "I thought seeing you again would make me cry. All those things we missed. How much I missed you."

"Tears are a thing of the past now, Mike." Linda smiled. "I have the authority to tell you both this; 'Well done, thou good and faithful servants.' Or in other words, you were two good cops. Come on."

An inspector's funeral is elaborate. A funeral for two is incredible. Almost a mile of law enforcement vehicles followed the caskets to the small country cemetery where the Gibsons put their parents to rest. Hundreds of police officers from eight states stood around as the service reached its finale. An honor guard of Deputies and Marines stood by the caskets to give the final salute.

The Department Chaplain nodded at Carol. She reached down and switched her walkie-talkie on and turned the volume up. In succession, all the other officers did the same. Carol lifted her cell phone, already connected to the radio room and simply said "Now."

The radio spoke, amplified by the hundreds of speakers in cars and on belts. "Jackson County Sheriff's Office, all cars and stations on this frequency. Be advised that Inspector Mike Gibson and Inspector Pat Gibson are 10-7, 10-42. They are out of service," the dispatcher's voice broke and she carried on through her tears, "ending patrol."

The five Gibson children; Carol, Stephanie, Mike, Jr., Bob and Daniel, stood with their arms interlocked as the bagpiper began "Amazing Grace." Suddenly, Carol's head jerked up. For just a moment she had felt the warm, firm grip of her Father on her right shoulder. It had been matched by the gentle touch of her Mother for an instant on her left shoulder.

Carol looked at her siblings. They matched her gaze and she realized they had all felt it for that one moment. They knew their parents were still watching over them, still protecting them and would until they met them again one day.

(The End)

(That's the end of this story but not the end of this series. I have two more stories already underway, Linda_s is writing her second story in this series, and Mike and Pat have been invited to make a guest appearance in another author's series in 2004. Hope to see you all again as those stories appear.)