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property of NBC and Dick Wolf.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
A Day of Hope and Thanksgiving
By Ann
The taxi inched along the street and had just barely covered a city block in ten minutes time. Frustrated, the fare had finally had enough, and she growled, "How much?"
"What?" The confused driver glanced in the rearview mirror and asked the woman who was rifling in her purse, looking for some cash.
Throwing a twenty over the seat, Tracey said, "This should more than cover it and keep the change; you're not going to get another fare for hours in this traffic jam." Opening the door, she stepped out and slammed it behind her, leaving the stunned driver to watch her zigzag her way through the parked cars.
Finally reaching the sidewalk, Tracey muttered, "I fucking hate this parade. It's Thanksgiving for God's sake. Shouldn't everyone be indoors cooking a feast or something, instead of standing out here in this freezing, windy weather? Stupid morons; I hope one of those flying balloons breaks free and knocks some sense into their small minded brains. Hell, these are probably the same idiots who plan to get up in the middle of the night to line up outside the stores so that they can fight over some stupid bargain."
An hour later, a very cold and irritated Tracey entered the front doors of her office building. Heading straight for the elevator, she ignored the security guard and stepped into the waiting car. She punched the button for her floor and rested her head against the back wall of the elevator. With the building empty, she enjoyed the peaceful ride to her floor without any stops on the floors between.
The ding of the elevator alerted Tracey that she had reached her destination, and she pushed herself off the wall and walked toward her office where she found the door unlocked and slightly ajar. Peering in through the crack in the door, she didn't notice anything that appeared to be out of place.
She slowly pushed the door forward and stepped across the threshold. Everything was just as she had left it; there were neat stacks of paper on her desk, and the file she had come to retrieve was sitting prominently in the middle. The only thing out of the ordinary was that Kelly's desk lamp was on, and Tracey knew her assistant always made sure she turned it off before she left each day.
Walking over, she reached for the off switch and spotted a card sitting on top of the spotless desk. She glanced around before making the decision to pick it up. Hell, for all she knew, someone was stalking Kelly and had broken into the office to leave this very card.
Rationalizing that she had probable cause for being concerned about her assistant's safety, Tracey opened the card and was shocked to find it was from Kelly to her. The blonde thanked her for being such a wonderful boss, and Tracey snickered at the gesture because she knew for a fact that she was a bitch to work for. Glancing to the end, she noted the Happy Thanksgiving sentiments followed by a familiar signature.
Sighing, she turned off the lamp and headed for her desk. Placing the card in the top drawer, she reached for the case file she had come to retrieve when she spotted a small yellow post-it note attached to the front, and the message was clearly written in Kelly's handwriting, 'Tracey, meet me on the roof, Kelly."
Turning, the note over, Tracey muttered, "What? When did she write this?" Her question was answered by the second message written on the back, "It's 8:30 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning, now get your ass on the roof."
Clearing shocked, Tracey wondered why the blonde hadn't gone out of the city for Thanksgiving, but more importantly, what in the hell was she doing on the roof? On the way to the elevator, she focused on yet another part of the note and smiled, "I can't believe she finally called me an ass."
Tracey quickly discovered that the elevator didn't actually take her directly to the roof. She had to climb three different sets of stairs to reach the exit door clearly marked 'Roof,' and her earlier humor had long disappeared by the time she turned the knob.
Stepping out onto the deck, Tracey was knocked backward into the door by a strong gust of wind, and she was just able to balance herself against the frame. She took a moment to rub her sore shoulder before beginning the search for her lunatic assistant.
The brunette tied the belt of her coat tightly as she left the relatively safe haven of the doorway to move further out onto the roof. She'd only taken a few steps when she stopped dead in her tracks, and this time it wasn't because of the wind. In fact, she had to blink several times to be certain that she wasn't hallucinating.
There, standing in the middle of the roof, was Kelly. She had her back to her boss, and she was looking up into the sky. At first, Tracey had figured her assistant was watching the parade and admiring the many balloons, but instead, she realized that Kelly was looking away from the parade's direction. Then, and only then, was Tracey able to squint and make out the tiny figure in the sky.
"A kite? She's flying a kite?" Tracey muttered under her breath as she braved the wind, and once again, moved in the direction of the blonde.
Kelly caught sight of the movement behind her and turned to see Tracey marching toward her. Smiling, she said, "Hey, Tracey. I see you got my note."
"Kelly, have you lost your mind? One of these wind gusts could easily blow you off this building. Now, reel in that kite and let's move back inside," Tracey ordered, gesturing wildly at the kite in question.
"Oh, c'mon Tracey, live a little. I've missed flying a kite, and these are the perfect conditions for it," Kelly replied, letting the string out on the kite instead of pulling it back down to earth.
"Perfect conditions? Have you seen the weather report? The temperature is 30 degrees with a wind chill of 15, and these gusts have the people over at Macy's scared shitless that they won't be able to fly their precious balloons," Tracey ranted as she was finally able to make it through the head wind to reach the blonde.
Totally ignoring Tracey's speech, Kelly offered, "I brought one for you to fly, too. It's in my bag down at my feet. I'd get it for you, but I'm afraid I'd lose control of mine. All you have to do is unwrap it and hold onto the string. The wind will take it right out of your hand."
"No shit, with as strong as it is, it'll probably take my hand with it," Tracey replied, keeping both of her hands snugly in her pockets while she watched the last bit of string unroll from Kelly's holder signaling that the kite had reached upwards as far as it could go.
Another gust of wind almost took the string out of Kelly's hands, but she managed to hold on tightly and move toward the side as she struggled to keep control of the yellow kite. Nervously, Tracey followed the blonde as she inched precariously toward the edge.
The kite seemed to have a mind of its own as it went with the wind and pulled the string from Kelly's hands. Making one last ditch effort to catch the freed string, Kelly lunged forward and would've gone over the edge had Tracy not anticipated the move and grabbed her assistant, pulling the blonde backwards into her arms.
The combination of the saving maneuver coupled with the wind gusts knocked the two women to the ground, but neither released the other, instead holding on to each other tightly as their hearts beat in a synchronized rapid tempo.
Tracey was the first to regain her senses, and she chastised the blonde for her carelessness. "Damn it, Kelly. You could have been killed, and all because of a stupid kite. Don't you ever do anything like this again; do you hear me?"
A shaken Kelly burrowed into Tracey's shoulder and nodded her head as the tears began to silently fall until she was sobbing against the brunette's woolen coat. Tracey placed her hand on Kelly's head and pulled her closer so that her assistant's face was snuggled into her neck. "Sh, it's okay. You're okay," she cooed to the frightened blonde.
Eventually, the occasional hiccup was all that was left from Kelly's crying jag, but she stubbornly held onto Tracey, enjoying the close, albeit rare, moment. Tracey was enjoying the moment herself; however, the cold flooring of the roof had her worried that her backside would soon freeze to the roofing material.
"Kelly, let's go down to the office kitchen and make some hot chocolate. I don't know about you, but I'm practically freezing to death," Tracey suggested, gently stroking the blonde's hair.
Lifting herself off her boss, Kelly looked out into the distance and whispered, "I'm sorry, Tracey. I just wanted to have a little fun, and I was hoping we could put all our work thoughts aside for a few hours. Kite flying always made me feel so happy and free."
Tracey quickly sat up and took the blonde's hand in hers. "I tell you what; let's go get that hot chocolate, and then we can make plans for later. I've got a friend who can probably squeeze us into his restaurant for a nice Thanksgiving meal. What do you say?"
Gazing down at their joined hands, Kelly squeezed Tracey's hand and said, "I'd like that." The two women sat in silence until another wind gust got their attention. Quickly standing, Kelly ran over and retrieved her bag before rejoining Tracey. Together, they slowly walked back to the roof's entrance.
On the way down the stairs, a curious Tracey asked, "Hey, Kelly. I noticed your kite looked kind of like a yellow bat, you know kind of like the old Batman signal; so I was wondering, what kind of kite did you have for me to fly?"
"Huh?" Kelly replied, clearly not wanting to answer the question.
Stopping, Tracey put her hands on her hips and said, "You heard me perfectly. Now, what type of kite do you have in your bag for me?"
"Um, well, you see, …um, it's a dragon," Kelly answered in a quiet voice, patiently waiting for the explosion and wondering if the hot chocolate and dinner date would be postponed to the end of time. Instead, Kelly was surprised to hear a chuckle, quickly followed by a deep, full laugh.
Tracey walked back up the few steps to join her assistant, and taking her hand, she said, "A dragon for a dragon lady, how appropriate. Now, would you get your ass in gear? I want some hot chocolate, damn it."
Turning, Tracey started back down the stairs, pulling a smiling Kelly behind her. The blonde wasn't sure what the rest of the day had in store for them, but she was thankful that she would be spending it with her boss.
Continuing to follow Tracey down the steps, Kelly hoped that this would be the beginning of a beautiful friendship, and maybe someday, she would get her final wish, and it would become a lasting relationship.
Then she would have something to be truly thankful for, but until that day, she would settle for whatever she could get, and today, she had a most precious gift, Tracey's undivided attention.
The End