Calamity, Chaos and Complications

Carolyn is trying to work, so when my phone rings and I see that dreaded number pop up, I duck and start hissing already.

"Yeah? What? You, too, you fu- I'm at work....No, I'll be there, yeah noon, TOMORROW?" This is when everyone in the room looks, so I duck again. "No. No, no, no no. You said Fri- whaddya mean "oops?" Suck it up? Suck it up? I'll tell you what you can - no, no, come on. No, stop. Okay. I know it takes time to get ready for - Look, forget I said anything. Where are you staying?...Oh, the hell you are. Out of the question. You come for your thing, you have it, you go - what do you mean, "you know? " How long do you.....TWELVE DAYS? What the fu-? Are you insa- nevermind. It's not an insult, it's the god damn truth, that's what........fine. Fine! No, it's fine. You win! Yes, you win! I'm not mad. I'M. NOT. MAD....okay, yes, I am. But - hey, no fair! No, I - ....I....Stop, okay, stop. Fine. Whatever. It's fine.... Yeah, I'll see you then."

I drop the phone like it's a viper. My partner is pretending not to snicker at me and doing a lousy job of it. "Geez, Logan. No offense, but if we have to negotiate for a hostage, I think I'll handle it, if you don't mind."

"I don't want to go there. I have a crisis on my hands. Or rather, hand. I have a matter of hours to protect my valuables and arrange security for when I can't be there. Twelve days. She's nuts. How do you have a twelve-day-long party?"

"Must be pretty serious about it. You'd better start making nice with the neighbors."

"Yeah, well, I already got in touch with the local precinct. She took out a frickin' permit for this thing. I tell you, I'm starting to believe in a god, and I think he or she hates me." I glare at the ceiling for a minute. "She's taking over my place for nearly two weeks. And of course, she's staying there. No, no hotel for her. I'm movin' into the breakroom."

"Why are you letting her do this?"

"It's a long, long story. And that's the honest-to-dog-truth. There's your question of the day." She gives me another look, and I cave. "Later. I'll explain later, ok?"

"All right. But you owe me a penalty question then, too."

"Sure. Whatever you want." I start digging around for some Excedrin, while she goes back to the reports. But I can still hear her snickering, and I think I heard a muttered "Sucker..." from over there.

Update

Do not think for a moment that I'm not trying to find out why BG's been dropping all these little hints about his love life. One sure way to distract yourself from your troubles is to make a fresh batch somewhere else.
I think I have a fact-finding mission of sorts lined up for tonight before I rush home to secure the fort. We'll see.