(no subject)

"Ah, no, sir."

The Lieutenant shot Ray a familiar, expectant look, sat back in his chair and steepled his fingers in front of him. Suddenly the desk between them seemed really, really big; it brought back memories of standing in the principal's office, head peeking over the top of the hard wood desk, being yelled at for throwing his basketball around the hallway and accidentally setting off the fire alarm. Right before third period math.

"Ah, yes, sir," Ray quickly corrected himself, opening his palms and shifting on his feet, speaking with thorough conviction. Or close enough. "You called me in here to congratulate me on five months as Kowalski's partner without whacking him, sir," he ventured.

"Your humor never fails to amuse me, Vecchio. If we're not careful, we'll lose you to the comedy club scene as well."

"And what a shame that would be, sir."

There was a pause as Welsh leant forward, rifled through the papers littering his desk and dropped a folder in front of Ray.

"We may still lose you." It landed open, fluttered the sheets around it. "Take a look."

( An uncomfortable feeling took over, started in his hands and worked its way through Ray's body.  )