Phonecall.

"I thought you'd still be up."
"Jess? Why're you awake?"
"I'm on the red-eye shift at Theo's place. On-shift until 4, I'll be a bit late into work tomorrow."
"Ouch. So...why are you calling at this hour? I wasn't sleeping or anything, but...are you bored or something?"

Yeah, I'm so smooth at this hour of the night.

"I just wanted to say, I'm really sorry about this morning. I didn't think when I brought you along to the crime scene. And it was a...bad one."
Oh, right, my little...um, ailment. I was honestly much more pleased when she was pretending it didn't happen.
"Look, it's no problem. In fact, it was probably a good thing. My main job with the force is still counselling those who have job-related stresses. If I am in the field, logically, I will have a better understanding of what I might be dealing with. And, if...that is what you encounter in your job, well...now I know, I guess."
"How do you feel about it?"
I laughed. "Hey, it's MY job to ask that question."
"I guess so...I'm still feeling a bit guilty about this. And I'm tired. Fucking perfect."
"Really. It doesn't matter. Why would this be making you feel so bad? So I lost my breakfast, it didn't cost me too much."
"...It's just that, I generally work solo. I don't get a chance to to work with the other detectives much, and whenever I do, it doesn't seem to go too well. I wanted to bounce ideas off you, is all. And that..........means.......................me."
"Sorry, I didn't catch that last part, the reception's a little fuzzy."
"Huh...is it better now?"
"Yeah, it is."
"So...we're good, right?"
"Yeah, we're good." It was a significant breakthrough seeing Jess show any sort of emotion that wasn't just, anger. It was a nice change.

She seemed a lot happier after that. "In that case...these night shifts are ridiculously boring. Now we've decided you're no longer a desk jockey, you should come with next time around."
"Might as well. I'm up until stupid hours anyway."
"Awesome! It's a..........see........."
"You're breaking up again."
*BEEP*