Death in the Shell Ch. 12

I write on behalf of the entire New York Police and Security Department to apologize for the false accusations and subsequent defamation and emotional distress we have caused on your character. It was unwarranted and completely our fault. We only ask for your forgiveness for the damages that were caused to your good name, even though we deserve every ounce of your contempt for us.

I won't go into complete details about your suspension from the NYPSD, because we feel no need to rehash any details and we wish to take into consideration any animosity that you might hold against us. But procedure was required to be followed, no matter who the officer is, you know that just as well as I do. But your resignation in that matter was a display of poor behavior on our part, but I hope that you can understand what we were dealing with at the time.

Now here's where a piece of the truth comes out, we couldn't bear to accept a resignation letter from one of our best officers who had obviously been in heavy distress, even when she defected to The Ghost Organization for reasons we don't know. So as a result, we agreed to issue you a 90-day leave of absence in case you wanted a clean return to the New York Police and Security Department. But if you choose not to return to your post as Lieutenant, then it is obvious I have failed as your commanding officer and I'm prepared to resign myself because what good is a commanding officer who doesn't have the support of their subordinates.

In the end, if you choose to stay with The Ghost Organization, then we will respect your wishes and wish you well on your endeavors. We know that you will be a great officer for them as you were for us.

Sincerely,

Commander Jack Whitney.

Roarke didn't need to read his wife's mind as she began to weep on his shoulder. He read that letter along with Eve and felt a weight lift off his own personal shoulders. In the midst of Eve breaking down emotionally, Roarke began to do some thinking on the events of the past two months. If she hadn't remembered the truth of what happened in Dallas, things definitely would've been different. Not just in the matter of the Cassandra incident but also the Drake Center where this whole debacle had started.

One week before this happened, Roarke had a dream involving him and Eve in a world where Motoko Kusanagi and The Ghost Organization didn't exist. Eve had been near freezing to death at the snowy courtyard, no heavy clothes on, just a loose t-shirt and jeans. Summerset had been there to pull her out of the snow and could tell she was at her lowest when she began to apologize. Roarke had reached his pissed off point with Eve when he ordered her to use the shower to warm her body up.

When she got done with the shower, Roarke made her two offers.

Dream Sequence

He ordered up brandy for both of them, swirled his without interest as he waited for her.

When she came out, wrapped in a robe, he was ready.

"Perhaps it's time we talk about your options."

"Options?"

"What you'll do." He picked up the second snifter, put it in her hand, then sat comfortably. "With your training and experience, private security is likely the best avenue. I have a number of organizations where your talents would come in very handy."

"Private security? Working for you?"

He lifted a brow. "I can promise you, your income will be more substantial than it was, and you'll be kept very busy." He sat back, draped his arm over the back of the sofa, and appeared blissfully relaxed. "That particular option would free up your time, allow you to travel more freely. You'd be expected to accompany me on a number of business trips, so it would have a number of benefits to both of us."

"I'm not looking for a damn job, Roarke."

"No? Well, my mistake. If you've decided to retire then, we can explore other options."

"Options, for God's sake. I can't think about this."

"We could consider making a child."

The snifter jerked in her hand, brandy sloshing over the rim as she spun around. "What?"

"That got your attention," he murmured. "I imagined we'd start our family a bit farther down the road, but under the current circumstances, we could easily push it up."

She wondered why her head didn't explode. "Are you crazy? A baby? Do you mean a baby?"

"That's the conventional way to start a family."

"I can't-I don't-" She managed to catch her breath. "I don't know anything about babies, kids."

"You have a great deal of leisure time just now. You can learn. Retiring makes you a perfect candidate for professional motherhood."

"Professional-Jesus." She was certain she felt all the blood the hot water had stirred back to life in her body drain away again. "You've got to be joking."

"Not entirely." He rose, faced her. "I want a family. It doesn't have to be now, it doesn't have to be a year from now, but I want children with you. I also want my wife back."

"Private security, families." Her eyes filled and stung again. "Just how much do you want to dump on me when I'm down?"

"I expected better of you," he said coolly and had the tears drying up.

"Better? Better of me?"

"A great deal better. What have you done the last thirty-odd hours, Eve, but cry and hide and feel sorry for yourself? Where do you expect that to get you?"

"I expected you to understand." Her voice broke and nearly undid him. "To give me some support."

"To understand you crawling away, to support your self-pity." He sipped brandy again. "No, I don't think so. It gets tiring, watching you wallow in it."

It stole her breath away, the light disgust in his voice, the disinterest in his eyes. "Just leave me alone then!" She shouted it, tossed the brandy aside so that the glass bounced and rolled as the liquor soaked the carpet. "You don't know how I feel."

"No." Finally, he thought, finally here was her fury. "Why don't you tell me?"

"I'm a goddamn cop. I can't be anything else. I busted my ass at the academy because it was the answer. It was the only way I knew to make something of myself. To finally be something that wasn't another number, another name, another victim the system sucked up and struggled with. I did it," she said furiously. "I made me so that nothing, nothing that happened before had to matter."

She whirled away. There were tears again, but these were hot and potent and full of rage. "What I didn't remember, what I did, none of it could change where I was going. Being a cop, being in control, using the system that had, by God, used me all my fucking life. From the inside, with a badge, I could believe in it again. I could make it work. I could stand for something."

"Why have you stopped?"

"They stopped me!" She spun back, her hands fisted. "Eleven years, the years that matter, when I trained and I learned and I worked to make a difference somewhere. The bodies stacked up in my mind, the blood I've waded through, and the waste. I see it in my sleep, every face of the dead. But it didn't stop me, never would have stopped me, because it matters too much. Because I can look at them and know what I have to do. And I can live with everything that happened to me, even the things I don't remember."

He nodded coolly. "Then fight back, and get what you need."

"I've got nothing. Goddamn it, Roarke, can't you see? When they took my badge, they took everything I am."

"No, Eve. They didn't take what you are unless you let them. They only took your symbols. If you need them," he continued, stepping to her, "pull yourself together, stop whining, and get them back."

She jerked away from him. "Thanks for the support." Her voice cracked like ice under a pick as she turned and walked out of the room.

End of dream sequence

Had that dream been a reality, who knows what would've happened in the fallout. Maybe Eve would've beaten up a droid, or she would've packed her clothes and went to either Nadine's or Mavis' and stayed there for either a night or permanently. The latter thought disturbed him greatly because it would've wrecked him to the core.

So to feel his relief at Eve reading that letter with the company of Motoko and Batou present, Roarke kissed his wife ever so gently as she began to calm down. He knew she was being offered a chance to start over again with the NYPSD and had no doubt in his mind that she would take it. Motoko and Batou had sat through the entire moment, silently holding their hands and admiring the young love between their two counterparts.

"I got a question, Major." Eve began to ask as she regained her composure.

"What is it, Lieutenant?" Motoko asked.

"If I rejoined the NYPSD, do we still have joint jurisdiction over this case?"

Motoko nodded before asking, "What did you have in mind, Lieutenant?"

"There's not a doubt in my mind that if we were to unleash the NYPSD Swat Teams on B. Donald Branson and Clarissa Branson, they'll find a way to wiggle themselves out of jail before they can even be arraigned in court."

"I agree," was all Motoko said knowing Eve was reluctant to say what was next on her mind.

"I know it's out of character for me to even think this...but I want you to kill both of them when we invade their residence tomorrow night."

Before Motoko could give her answer to Eve's favor, Batou began to speak.

"You are right about one thing, if you manage to catch those two bastards, all you can do about it is put them in a cage. But don't forget, we're The Ghost Organization, if anyone can get their hands dirty it's us."