Who's The Rookie Now? (Mary-Lou)

[Susanna Gossamer]

Susie was not the kind of woman who spent many nights at home in front of the television stuffing her face. It wasn't that she had anything against the sort of people who did lead that kind of life. On the contrary, her life was dedicating to protecting the citizens of Gotham who, judging by how cramped her trips on the Subway were, were at least halfway made up of couch potatoes who did nothing but that every night. Rather, usually she was just too busy, too wound up, to sit down for any length of time doing nothing. It was nice when she got the chance, except on this particular occasion when the chance was forced on her quite without her approval. In this instance, she had to admit she would much rather be too busy with fieldwork than stuck in front of the tube.

It wasn't her fault, really, that the thumb drive had ended up being such a cleverly concocted Trojan horse. Any other detective would have done the same! Would they have let processing finish approving it before sticking it in her computer? Well… okay, maybe they would have done that. But this was her rookie that had been killed! After having to explain to his fiancé what had happened, she had been in no mood for red tape. And per usual for her, she had got impatient and done something rash. She winced where she sat as she thought of answering that riddle and unleashing the devastating effects of the programs within. Yeah, ok. So maybe she deserved a little forced leave time.

Hey, she had been wanting a vacation anyway, right? There was a big difference, though, in taking a vacation despite your boss's begging and taking one because if you didn't he'd fire you. And there was work to be done, which was the worst part of all! She wanted to be at the Department working too-long hours to catch this sicko and lock him up where he belonged, with other crazies who would show his life the same respect he had shown Brewsky's.

Ugh. She threw her spoon down into the half-eaten pint of Ben and Jerry's cookie dough extravaganza. She glared at the television, crossing her arms over her chest and wondering why there was nothing better to watch on a Sunday night than a Pizza Hut sponsored marathon of Police Academy flicks. The world hated her. Obviously.

Bah, humbug.

[Admin]

Even when the world seemed to have something against her, Mary-Lou found it hard to stay in the doldrums for long. She had her own little ways of cheering herself up and making any situation seem a little bit better, and she really found that if you could cheer yourself up some then the world was sure to get over its grump soon enough! The series of blues that had come over the usually perky Miss since her arrival in Gotham were definitely starting to disappear and along with newfound respect in her job and the entrance of a rather mysterious young man into her life, things were looking up for the blonde and she was super-glad for it!

Of course, things weren’t totally gravy. Even though today was her day off she’d heard through the grapevine of her cousin’s inadvertent faux pas earlier on that day with the insane virus that had put the Department into near total lockdown. While really she was removed from the situation professionally Mary-Lou wasn’t the sort to let her family go through something like this alone. She knew Susanna well enough to know that the redhead wouldn’t be taking this well. Gathering her supplies into a wicker basket and covering it with the typical red and white checked picnic cloth she caught a cab across town and got let in by the doorman.

Toting her goodies and looking like some kind of overgrown Candy-Striper in her blue jeans, red heels and red-and-white striped sweater Mary-Lou reminisced about her time with Susie since she had moved to Gotham. It was really nice having at least one family member close to her, and the blonde knew her mother slept better because tenacious Susanna was nearby to protect her baby-angel. Smiling slightly at the thought, Mary-Lou knocked politely but firmly on the door to Susie’s apartment, her basket looped over one arm.

[Susanna Gossamer]

Groooooaaaaaaan. Susie turned her glare from Mahoney and Lieutenant Asshole to instead burn holes through her apartment door. Who would dare knock on her door during her night of misery?? Grrrrr. Her annoyance quickly flitted away as she realized there was really only one person who would brave her bad mood on such an occasion. It had to be Bruce! Maybe he had come to cheer her up. He probably should be out as Batman, scaring up the city's newest freak, but in this instance it as totally understandable that he would rather be there with her. Totally! She bounced off of the couch, straightened her mad hair in the mirror by the door, and quickly bemoaned that she was wearing flannel pajama pants and an oversized GCPD sweatshirt that used to belong to Upchuck. Whatever. He would understand.

She unlocked her eleventy billion locks and opened the door, the breeze entering like a breath of fresh air into stagnant lungs. Only, the scent on the air was familiar and girly, and not Bruce's expensive, mannish smell. But… that didn't make sense… until she saw the person on the other side of the door.

Oh. Of course.

For a brief moment, all the redhead could do was stare. Her eyes traveled from Mary-Lou's usual chipper expression beneath her perfect golden waves, down to the picnic basket she was carrying and on past that to the girly heels she wore under her ridiculously well-fitting bluejeans. Susie was wearing socks with a hole in one. She decided that her cousin looked like a sadistic version of Little Red Riding Hood right out of her own personal hell. Without a word of greeting, the detective turned around and escaped back into her troll cave, determined to ignore this cheerful mosquito of a visitor. To her credit, at least she didn't slam the door right in the poor girl's face.

She took a seat at her table, a small four-seater number that wasn’t too far in from the doorway, and then plopped her arms crossed on the table and her chin on her forearms and stared at her well-meaning visitor expectantly.

She hoped that her cousin remembered to lock everything back before she started farting silver linings.

[Mary-Lou White]

Whilst the lacklustre manner of her cousin’s greeting did not go unnoticed by Mary-Lou, it was hardly enough to discourage her. She was used to Susie’s slightly grouchy way of dealing with the world, and in fact she tended to think it a part of her cousin’s charm. She followed through the door, closing behind her and automatically moving to relock Fort Knox – she was a cop after all! Plonking her basket on the table, Mary-Lou placed her palms face down across from Susie and bent to look into the redhead’s eyes. “Awww, c’mon!” she pleaded. The folded arms, the dejected expression – UGH! If she didn’t know she’d get a black eye for her trouble Mary-Lou would drag Susie out dancing.

“I come bearing giii-iiifts!” the blonde declared in a sin-song voice. She undid the tie on one side of the basket cover and pulled out a gigantic chocolate bar, a packet of oreos and some mashmallows. “For smores,” she explained unnecessarily, dipping her hand back in. “For background noise,” she added, pulling out a copy of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho and waving it at Susie before setting it on the table. “Aaaaaaand...” she said with a small drum-roll on the table. She lifted out the crowning glory – the biggest bottle of JD she had been able to buy. Mary-Lou didn’t normally approve of hard liquor and she certainly didn’t make a habit of drinking it, but in situations like this she could make an exception. Her kin needed her!

“Medicinal liquor,” she winked. “There are also oranges for tomorrow morning. I’m sleeping over!”

Looking at her cousin and pre-empting any snotty or smart reply she might get, Mary-Lou clasped her hands in front of her waist. “You don’t really want to be alone tonight, do you? Besides," she quipped. "I have goss!" She had no idea that Susie's goss would blow hers right out of the water!

[Susanna Gossamer]

The grumpy redhead made no response to Mary-Lou's first attempt to get her to cajole her into a smile. How would the blonde feel if she had made such a monumental mistake? Although, Susie quickly realized, for all the teasing she gave her cousin and how little she thought of her overall streetsense (and admittedly, that was improving the longer she stayed in Gotham), Mary-Lou wouldn't make the mistake Susie had made. It was against protocol, wasn't it? And protocol was there for a reason! The thought made her a little sadder. In one way, her own younger cous' was a better cop than she was!! Waaaaah.

But despite not really wanting Mary-Lou's company in her misery, it turned out that the girl wasn't half bad at cheering a person up. As the food was pulled from the picnic basket, Susie had to admit that her coworker and fam wasn't off to a bad start. She didn't normally keep much junkfood in the house and she'd already made her way through most of what she had that wasn't out of date (which wasn’t much). And s'mores were so sunny. Then, the blonde pulled out Psycho, and there was an even greater spark of appreciation from the self-imposed house inmate. Yes! Something decent to watch! She might just have to thank Mary-Lou politely before she kicked her back out. But then she saw the tip of something else, and then thought, no wait, couldn't be, Mary-Lou wouldn't, and yet, yes, it was!! Liquor!! Her expression changed entirely.

She loved her cousin. Loved.

But before she could get too excited, Mary-Lou then dropped the bomb. She wanted to stay the night?? No way! That would not cheer her up! But then, she had to admit as she thought back on how happy she was that Bruce might be coming to visit, she didn't want to be alone tonight after all. At all. And Mary-Lou, bless her heart, had done everything in her power to make the night decent despite everything. She eyed the large bottle of Jack Daniels. With that much liquor, she could totally put up with family for one night.

"Deal," she said, as if it had been a negotiation, and she stood up to retrieve glasses from her cabinets. Setting the glasses down and reaching for the whiskey, she found that in spite of herself she was even curious about Mary-Lou's gossip. "So what's up?"

[Mary-Lou White]

Without even noticing the hitch or consideration of whether or not she would be staying the night, Mary-Lou beamed at Susie and moved over to the couch which was also not far away. Slipping her non-practical heels and folding her legs up under herself on the couch in full pyjama-party mode, Mary-Lou had to refrain from fully gushing. She didn’t want to sound over-keen with her news (she had only met the guy once after all), but she didn’t want to down play it either. How many nice guys did a girl meet in this God forsaken town?

“Well,” she began, in a tone that totally implied gushiness to follow. “I was out in the park the other day and met this really nice guy. His name is Edward – totally sweet,” she smiled, wrapping her arms around herself in a gleeful type hug, “and totally cute. We walked for a while and got coffee. And before you ask—“ she added, in case Susie was about to get over-protective on her, “I was careful. And he’s normal. Really!” She sighed and smiled, holding out her hand for a glass and deciding she would make an exception just this once. “Did I mention cute? And speaking of cute!”

She grinned at her cousin. “Don’t tell me the thought of canoodling with Bruce Wayne doesn’t cheer you up just a little,” she looked expectantly at Susie.

[Susanna Gossamer]

Susie listened as she picked up the two glasses of JD and the copy of Psycho and headed to Mary-Lou's side. She wasn't as disapproving as her cousin had assumed she would be. In fact, after the assurance that she had been careful, she was sort of glad for her cous'. It was hard to meet guys in the city, particularly when you worked with a bunch of dickheads like they did at the precincts. The fact that she had taken an opportunity to get to know a total stranger at the park kind of impressed her. She handed over the glass that her cousin looked ready to accept, forgetting how rare the occasion was because, well, normal people drank and gossiped. Some days, like now, Mary-Lou appeared normal. It worked.

As she took her seat next to her on the couch and pulled her legs up in front of her just like the other girl, Susie had to grin. It was true. The thought of Bruce did cheer her up. Immediately, though, she berated herself. She was not the sort to get gushy over anyone. But then again, most guys weren't worth it. And she quickly realized that the Bruce Wayne her cousin knew wasn't worth it. How could she explain to Mary-Lou about Bruce without giving the wrong impression? She quickly realized she couldn't really share too much, and that made her a little disappointed. Luckily she could share the overall enjoyment she was having, and she also knew there was no one better in the world to gush to about Bruce than the woman sitting before her.

"Canoodling?" she asked by way of a response, taking a gulp of Jack and blinking through the feel of it going down. "Is that what we call making out these days?" She smirked slyly then. That delivery of her goss? Perfection! She waited expectantly for Mary-Lou's reaction.

[Mary-Lou White]

The answering grin present on her cousin’s face was a great reward for her repeating the gossip that was rife in the bull-pen, and whilst Mary-Lou had taken the moral high ground with regards to what she repeated her effort had not been in vain. For a horrible moment, as Susie seemed to question her choice in words and paid homage to her drink, Mary-Lou thought that her cousin was either going to hold out on her or was going to deny the goss uncategorically. Either, the blonde knew, would have left her heartbroken and therefore she was very glad when Susie admitted to having made out with him. The blonde’s baby-blues grew wide with shock and excitement, her ear to ear grin causing the rosy apples in her cheeks to stand out in a way that would make a Disney Princess green with envy.

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!” she exclaimed, bouncing slightly on the couch and sloshing a little bit of her drink on the couch which was instantly forgotten in light of more important things. “Waitwaitwait,” she took a breath. “You made out with Bruce Wayne? The Bruce Wayne? Oh my gosh,” Mary-Lou let her breath out explosively, still grinning and obviously pleased as punch for her cousin. “That’s incredible! And totally outdoes my gossip!” Still thrilled, Mary-Lou took an over-zealous gulp of her drink. “I can’t believe it,” she added after only barely having swallowed her mouthful. “Bruce Wayne! Not that I should be surprised, I mean, you’re a thousand times better than the... the...” Mary-Lou bit her bottom lip before lowering her voice. “The so-called ladies he usually sees!”

She took another sip of her drink, noticing how the burning sensation in her throat seemed to get better with each sip she took. Not wanting to seem too forward (but on the other hand dying to know) Mary-Lou peered over the rim of her glass at Susie. “So are you seeing him again?”

[Susanna Gossamer]

Far from her usual stony facade, Susie was warmly, genuinely glad she had shared her news with Mary-Lou as soon as her younger cousin reacted so excitedly. Even though she was a little more exuberant than Susie would ever have acted on her wildest day Mary-Lou was able to express the excitement that bubbled up within her cousin in unguarded moments, which she didn't really know how to give vent to. This was how it was done! Share the news with someone who doesn't have to guard themselves from your eminent heartbreak and possible ego crushing and who can therefore enjoy all of the glorious wonder of your good news without any of the caution you find necessary yourself. She had to be sure she didn't get ahead of herself lest she be let down. Mary-Lou could be as excited as she liked in Susanna's stead. Thank God for girlfriends and specifically Mary-Lou.

But hmm, she did ask tough questions. "I assume so," she responded to her cousin's query. "I saw him again this afternoon. I went over there to ask him a few more questions about last night, and to be a grouch," let it never be said she was above admitting her own obvious flaws - how could she deny them? "but instead we ended up sparring and then..." She paused a moment, remembering, as a grin of enjoyment at the memory bowed her mouth becomingly. A semi giggle, so rare on Susie, bubbled up as she remembered the afternoon. The day hadn't been a total waste, she supposed.

"Anyway," deciding to be catty about all the details, she moved on. "Our 'canoodling' was interrupted by the Chief wanting to shout at me some more and get my badge, but I definitely think we might be, yanno, like... A Thing." She took another draught of her liquor, feeling loads better already and she had only been five minutes if that in her cousins company.

Curious if Mary-Lou had seen for herself what had transpired at the party or if she had overheard gossip and quickly making an educated guess, she asked, "So what are the hyenas at the department saying? And don't pull any punches - I want to know whose ass I need to kick when I get back to work."

[Mary-Lou White]

“A thing?” Mary-Lou squealed happily, bouncing on the couch with the thought of it. If anyone deserved a flashy romance it was definitely Susie who, in her mind, definitely chose the wrong type of guy with an alarming consistency (aka Charles Holden – ugh!) and consequently had her hopes dashed in short order. Though she couldn’t rightfully say she had ever seen Susie wailing over a broken heart, Mary-Lou certainly was pleased that things seemed to be looking up in that department! She was stopped somewhat in her tracks of excitement by Susie’s question and she pulled a face unwillingly. She didn’t want to have to repeat some of the totally disgusting things the men they worked with were saying, but she knew that Susie knew only too well that they would be saying something. Rationalising that it would probably be better for her cousin to hear it from her and thus be prepared upon her return (she would be returning, the blonde vowed), Mary-Lou took a deep breath.

“Well, the worst of it is coming from McInley and Jackson, of course,” she said, rolling her eyes. McInley and Jackson were two of the morons who actually called her Officer Bimbo to her face. “And the gist of what they’re saying is that you’ve been suspended because you’re thinking…” Mary-Lou hesitated. She didn’t want to actually say the next part, but she knew Susie would press her. “That you’re thinking with your dick,” she all but whispered, mortified. Most of the guys at the precinct didn’t operate under the ‘illusion’ that Susanna Gossamer was a woman; she’d beaten it out of them at such an early stage in her career that they were generally happy to look at her as one of the boys these days. “And that Bruce Wayne has finally found the perfect romantic interest, because he doesn’t’ have one to begin with. A dick, that is,” she answered with a tightening of her lips that expressed her distaste for having to have gone there.

“But they’re idiots, we all know that, Susie! They’re just jealous because they’ve all tried with you at some point or another and you’ve shot them down quicker’n quick! And they don’t have dicks,” she added, a little more forcefully.

[Susanna Gossamer]

Far from being mortified as Mary-Lou supposed, Susanna was strictly amused, but her amusement increased tenfold when her sweet and innocent kid cousin went so far as to say that McInley and Jackson didn't have dicks. "Well done, Mary-Lou," she said, clicking her glass to her cousin's in congratulations. "I think I'm beginning to rub off on you. Pretty soon I'll have you making smart ass comments offhand and beating guys up in the exercise room." Perhaps not all that, but one could dream. She took a sip of her alcohol, then laughed softly.

"Thinking with my dick," she repeated, shaking her head. Far from being offended by the crass treatment towards her gender, she was a little flattered. She would rather have people thinking of her as butch and manly (while secretly wanting to take her to bed, as she was sure many of her male coworkers did simply from their having tried) than thinking of her as... well, like they did Mary-Lou. She was still new, naive, and not quite broken in to the new city, but the girl was neither weak or stupid as McInley and Jackson presumed her. She wouldn't spend her time worrying about the opinions of thick headed beat cops anyway. A little late in coming, she had to admit that Mary-Lou was brighter than they were any day, and she was happy for her.

Even if it was only from being star struck.

She scrunched down in her seat, staring at the tv for a minute in silence as she contemplated briefly the events of the last few days. Though she would like to pretend that meeting Bruce was the biggest occurrence therein, as she stared at the larger than life of Norman Bates she knew that she would only be fooling herself. With Mary-Lou's opinion the only cop's she could ask without admitting weakness, and the only one who could give her an unbiased not-she's-thinking-with-her-dick answer, she spoke.

"It wasn't my fault about Brewsky."

[Mary-Lou White]

Glad that Susie seemed to have taken what had been said in her stride, Mary-Lou was pleased when her cousin said she thought she’d rubbed off on the blonde. Coming to Gotham against her parents’ wishes hadn’t been easy on her and finding the city in the state it was when she arrived had been rather disillusioning. But, with a little perseverance, a bit of perk and a helluva lot of Ben and Jerry’s she’d managed. And, you know, she would continue to manage especially now that things were starting to look a bit better on the whole. There were a few things that needed attention – there always was – but at least it gave her something to focus on. And right now, one of those things was comforting her cousin.

“Of course it wasn’t,” she agreed wholeheartedly. “How could it have been? You don’t know who set that whole thing up! The whole city is crawling with freaks who want to step up and take the Joker’s place. Just what we need,” she added with a trace of sarcasm as Norman took his intended victim a sandwich to her creepy motel room. “One thing’s for sure though, Suz. We need to catch whoever did it. And the sooner the better! Charlie said that he's gonna pop him one real good!"

[Susanna Gossamer]

Susie smirked. Good ol' Upchuck! "Well he will have to get to him before me," she cautioned before finishing the rest of her liquor. Even though it wasn't her fault, she still felt a little bit responsible for the rookie cop, and the meeting she had with his parents hadn't helped. Whoever had killed him would have her to answer to personally, as well as the rest of GPD. A cop killer was always at the top of the most wanted list, and in this case, this brutal, public killing, was even more urgent.

"Thank you," she said, forcibly turning her thoughts away from their current direction. She moved her brown eyes to her cousin, who had turned out to be a lot more insightful and helpful in this dire situation than she could possibly have imagined. She wasn't used to taking help, much. In fact, if she looked hard she might even find that this was the problem with most of her relationships. Thanks to growing up largely without a mother, she felt smothered by most attempts to comfort her and preferred to deal with rough spots entirely on her own. She liked her space, and felt almost insulted by any attempts to encroach on that. Mary-Lou had surprised her by being neither annoying or smothering in her consolation, and it was as relieving as it was refreshing. She couldn't promise she would always like it, but for now she had to say she appreciated the entire visit.

That isn't to say, though, that she knew quite what to do now that she had been successfully consoled. "I'm breaking into your s'mores," she announced, standing up to do just that. And she did not forget her glass; so long as she had the opportunity to get tipsy on another person's dime she fully planned to do just that. Not to mention gain a few pounds. And if she could catch a rare glimpse of Mary-Lou a little under the influence, well, she wouldn't pass that up! It would be good blackmail in case she decided to tell anyone she had a softer side.

[Mary-Lou White]

Mary-Lou, who was used to being sweet as sugar to people (even people who didn’t deserve it) thought absolutely nothing of going around to her cousin’s place to cheer her up. Sure, it wasn’t really her type of movie and she’d probably need to sleep with a light on somewhere, but what good was having family if you couldn’t count on them to come to the fore when you were feeling blue! When Susie thanked her the blonde smiled brightly, glad that for all Susie’s bravado and grouchiness Mary-Lou had managed to pay her back for being something of a role-model for her.

Nodding heartily in agreement at the s’moretasticness that was about to explode over her own tastebuds, Mary-Lou waited for Susie to return to the couch with the promised goods, watching the movie intermittently. Deciding that she might as well make herself useful she got up to refill their glasses, pouring one for each of them as Susie tackled the food. “You know,” she began, her blue eyes twinkling with mischief and a smile on her lips as she walked the drinks back to the coffee table before coming back to fetch the bottle for ease of access. “I’m pretty sure Charlie’s still sweet on you.”

[Susanna Gossamer]

Susie looked up at Mary-Lou sharply in surprise. What?? Was she nuts? Her breakup with Charlie had been ugly, loud, and very public. For a while neither of them had been able to say a kind word to the other and only the fact that they were both too stubborn to back down from a challenge saw them able to work in the same department. They bit their tongues, occasionally snarked, and eventually they were able to work on the same team again without trying to kill each other. With time that turned to tolerance, which then became renewed respect, and after a while she had got to the point where she considered him a friend again. But a flame?

Maybe it was because she remembered how heated their arguments had been before and even after their breakup. She had her virtues but tact, communication, and patience were not among them. She took her frustrations out on people and she was admittedly a first rate bitch when she got going. Charlie, with his flippant attitude and his ability to gave as good as he got, had become her favorite punching bag. She pounced on his mistakes and happily ignored her own, let professional competition color a personal relationship, and between her jealousy over his flirtatious nature and her envy of the natural edge he had over her on the job, he hardly stood a chance. Looking back on her own behavior she couldn't fathom why any man in his right mind would still hold a flame for her, much less someone with a mind as right as Charlie's.

"You're nuts," she pronounced plainly as she pulled her half-s'more concoctions out of the microwave. It wasn't as good as toasted over a fire, but it would have to do for a Gotham apartment. She stuffed a piece of chocolate and a graham cracker topper on each one before turning to the couch. "What on Earth makes you say that?"