Message: XVI

Toussaint woke up in the middle of the night, feeling her mouth dry and her head pounding. She rubbed her eyelids, and then, when she moved to go to bathroom, she noticed something was blocking her way. And that something was breathing in calm and sound sleep, with her arm thrown across Chyler's stomach.

She froze for a solid minute, trying to recover any sort of memory of what happened. She remembered drinking wine. A lot of wine. And then... what the hell happened then?

Dana moaned and mumbled something indistinctively, but then she didn't do anything else. Chyler swallowed, gently sliding her hand out of hers, and then going to the bathroom right away, feeling her stomach churning, but she wasn't quite sure why was that – because of the hungover she was experiencing, or because of the whole situation she had small to none memory about.

The door clicked quietly behind her and Toussaint leaned forward, resting her hands on the edges of the sink, making the water flow.

What was happening? She wasn't behaving like that ever before. Did anything between her and Dana happened? And by 'anything' she clearly thought about intercourse. Would she go to bed with her best friend...? Why even?!

"God, this work will be the death of me." She groaned quietly, resting her forearms on the porcelain rims and lowering her head, splashing her face with cold water. She knew it wasn't the work.

It was one person who had been working with her for no longer than 24 hours, and already pretty much kicked and buried all Chyler's principles. Respect for the partner? What was that even? Professionalism? Who the hell needed that. Dress code? Of course, if someone imagined her in something else than old jeans and black shirt. She didn't even bother to use perfumes!

Why the hell Rogers decided to give her the worst lost cause in the whole precinct? Why didn't he ask her about that, why didn't he discuss that decision with her, especially since she was supposed to be the one turned into a nanny?

"Jared, you bastard, why the hell you took me by surprise?" she whispered, splashing her face another time. She sighed, and then shook her head, clenching her eyelids and rubbing her forehead.

She knew why. Because he knew she would say 'no' at the very moment she interacted with Aria for the first time. Sometimes there were people that she just couldn't stand, and Callaghan was one of those.

She closed the faucet and wiped out the water drops from her face. There was nothing she wouldn't do to get rid of Aria, but at the same time she was aware there was nothing she could do to achieve it. Once Rogers insisted on something, once he made a decision, that was set in stone. And she knew about that better than anyone.

With another slightly louder sigh she left the bathroom and slid into the bed next to Dana. She didn't look at her friend, not willing to think if there was anything between them beside the only kiss to the neck she remembered.

That was a problem to talk about in the morning. Or maybe even another day entirely, if she was lucky enough.