No Time

The characters of "Nash Bridges" are the property of CBS and Paramount Television. No profit is made. Copyright 2002 by Mel

                                                          No Time

Only a few hours into the normal work day, and the place was already crowded and noisy. The phantom disco had already made an appearance, and the smoke from the fog makers still lingered. A drunk upstairs in the holding cell was screaming at the top of his lungs, which triggered shouts of "shut up!" from all and sundry.

All that is, but for the single man hunched intently at his desk, furiously signing his name to a pile of forms and reports. He was singularly focused on his task, ignoring the chaos around him, his pen flying across the papers. He finally paused in his efforts when the voice of his partner broke into his single-minded determination.

"Harvey, you move that pen any faster, and you're liable to start a fire." Laughing at the harried look his partner shot him, Evan wondered what was up with Harvey. "I'm gonna go question Parker. You want to sit in?"

With a distracted shake of his head, Harvey waved a hand and went back to his paperwork. "No time."

Evan shrugged and headed upstairs for his suspect, passing Nash on the way. "Hey, boss."

"You off to question Parker?"

"Yeah, I think now that he's had a while to think things over, we might get something out of him."

Nodding his agreement, Nash looked behind Evan. "Where's Harvey?"

"At his desk, trying to set the world record for the number of signatures in an hour or something."

With a thoughtful look down the stairs, Nash turned back to Evan. "Well, if you get anything out of Parker, let me know."

"You got it, boss."

When he got back downstairs, Nash glanced over at Harvey and chuckled. Evan had been right; Harv looked like he was trying to set a record. For a moment he wondered what Harvey was doing, then remembered. Laughing quietly, he headed for his own desk. He knew the feeling.

           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Having finished the paperwork, Harvey was pounding away at his keyboard. He'd been at it for over an hour, and had slipped into the groove. He'd get everything finished on time, for sure. Harvey heard footsteps come up behind him and stop, causing him to curse under his breath. Why couldn't everyone just leave him alone? Pausing long enough to glance up to see who his visitor was, Harvey went back to his computer. It was Joe.

"Hey, Harvey, can you look something up for me real quick? It's for an off-duty gig."

"No time."

Forcing a smile, switching to his persuasive mode, Joe tried again. "C'mon, Harv, it'll only take a minute."

"Sorry, Joe. No time."

"No time?" Okay, persuasive didn't work. How about annoying? "It'll just take a minute, Harvey. Surely you can take a break for just one minute."

"Nope, no time. Not even a minute. Give it to Evan."

Okay, now Joe was getting angry. Harvey had barely spared him a glance, and now he wouldn't even do him one quick favor. "Fine! But, you better not come to me any time soon for any favors."

Stalking off in a huff, Joe tried his partner. "Hey, Nash, can you look something up for me? Harvey wouldn't even give me the time of day."

Reaching out his hand, Nash took the file from Joe and smiled. "You'll just have to cut Harv some slack today, bubba. He's not going to do anything for anybody that doesn't directly have something to do with work. Not today."

Joe started to ask why, then remembered the date. "Tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow."

              ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey, Harv, want to go grab some lunch?" It was coming up on two o'clock and Evan was starving.

"No time."

"Come on, Harvey, you gotta eat something. I'm hungry."

"I'm not. I'll eat later when I have time."

Wondering when his partner would have time, Evan grabbed his jacket and dug in his pocket for his keys. His partner might not mind starving, but he sure did. "Alright, I'll be back later."

Waving a hand, Harvey kept his eyes on his computer. "Enjoy."

Walking out to his truck, Evan wondered if Harvey would make it through the day.

The afternoon dragged. The screaming drunk had been replaced with a street-walker, wailing and sobbing that her boyfriend would throw her into the street when he found out what she did for a living. Nash and Joe had to break up a brawl when a father and son got into a knock-down-drag out, after the father had come to get his son who'd been caught joyriding in a stolen SUV. Evan had been busy with the hysterical mother.

Yet, amidst the chaos, Harvey remained oblivious in his small pocket of calm. Just as Nash got everything straightened out with the family, and the barge began to quiet down a little, a shout from Harvey had them all turning their heads in his direction.

"That's it! I did it. It's all finished."

Checking his watch, Nash raised an eyebrow in amusement. "With an hour to spare, Harv. I'm impressed."

Harvey's mind was already wandering to his vacation. He was free. For one whole week, he'd do whatever struck his fancy. No murders, no robberies, no crime of any sort. No paperwork, no court, no cases. He'd have time to sleep in, time to watch the sunset, time to leisurely sip a glass of wine while listening to some good music. He'd have time to run the errands that had been piling up for a month, time to clean his house, time to take the Ranchero in for a tune-up. Time to take King for a day at the park, time to spend with his beautiful son.

Nash smiled at the faraway look in Harvey's eyes. "What do you have planned for your vacation, Harv?"

Dragging himself back to the present, Harvey sighed with anticipation.

"Time."

END