When Carl Met Beth (or, ...) [challenge piece] PG

[NocturneInCMoll]

Author's note: Not beta'd. All boo-boos are mine.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.


When Carl Met Beth (or, She Was Just Lucky the Cochinita Pibil Was On Special)

Carl fell back against the booth and loosened his belt a notch. He was patting his mouth with a napkin when a blonde stopped in the doorway of the diner and began looking around at the customers. Quickly he scrunched down in his seat. He’d seen her hanging around recently at crime scenes with the Buzzwire crew; several times he’d caught her looking at him as though she was waiting for a chance to approach, or inching closer and closer as he spoke to witnesses and other officers. Thus far, he’d managed to avoid her, and he hoped to maintain the status quo.

No such luck—a moment later, she slid onto the bench across the table from him.

“Oh, come on!” Carl threw down his napkin. “Don’t you people ever sleep?”

The blonde shook her head. “Not tonight—not when there’s a killer on the loose.”

He heaved an exaggerated sigh and glanced at his watch. “All right, now that you’ve interrupted the only break I’ve taken tonight, what do you want, Miss…Buzzwire?”

“It’s Turner—Beth Turner. I already know who you are—Lieutenant Carl Davis. I’ve done my homework.”

Carl ignored the hand she held out. “Great. You get an A+. How’d you find me, anyway? Did you follow me from the crime scene?”

“No.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder. “One of my sources told me that you—”

“’Sources’?” Carl rolled his eyes and leaned across the table. “You’re not even a real reporter!”

Her eyes flashed. “Hey—just because they haven’t given me a live webcast yet…”

“I meant because you work for a tabloid.”

“Oh.” She seemed to process that for about an eighth of a second, then rebounded with energy. “Buzzwire is not a tabloid. Okay, yeah—there’s some sleaze,” she shrugged, “but I’m trying to change that.” She locked eyes with him and leaned forward. “You can help me.”

“What? No!” Carl snorted. “No.”

“Don’t you want to see crime reported properly in the news?”

“Yeah. But I’d also love to see a pig fly. It ain’t gonna happen.”

Beth glared at him. “Hey, what are we supposed to do when the cops won’t talk to us?”

“Oh, um, I don’t know…wait until we have something we can tell you?”

“If the public is in danger, they have a right to know—”

Carl scoffed. “The public’s ‘right to know’ is the problem half the time!”

“Look, I promise to hold the story until you give the okay…”

“Yeah. Right,” he scrunched his nose, then frowned. “Wait…what story?”

Beth scooted nearer to the edge of the table and said in a low voice, “I have a tip for you on the 710 Freeway Shooter.”

“‘The 710 Freeway Shooter?’” He covered his face with his hand. “See, that right there, that’s our first problem: you guys give the psycho a nickname, and then—”

“What do you refer to him as, then?”

Carl thought for a moment and uncovered his eyes. “Psycho #639,456?”

“Okay,” Beth said with a little roll of her eyes and shake of her head, “Well, I think I know the location of Psycho #639,456.”

“Oh? Oh yeah? And did your fairy godmother reveal this to you through her magic mirror?”

“No,” she scowled. “…And I think you have your fairytales mixed up.”

“Whatever. Look—we’ve got this covered, all right? We don’t need help from some junior Buzzwire reporter.”

“You’ve got this covered?” she curled her lip incredulously. “There was another shooting this afternoon! I’d think you’d take any help you could get right about now.”

“I’d do anything to get you to leave me to think in peace right now,” Carl said under his breath.

Her eyes narrowed. “What was that?”

“Nothing.” He pursed his lips. “Okay. I’ll check out this tip of yours—if you pay for my dinner.”

A furrow appeared in Beth’s brow. “I’m helping you out, and you want me to buy you dinner?”

“All right. Fine. If your tip pans out…I’ll pay you back.” He spread out his arms. “How’s that—happy?”

Her eyes lit up. “And I get the story?”

“Deal,” he said, rising hastily.

Beth pushed a folded piece of paper across the table, which he grabbed and shoved into his pocket. Then she held out her hand. Carl did a quick shoulder-check to make sure that the establishment was not currently being patronized by any other members of the LAPD, and shook it grudgingly.

“Thank you, Lieutenant Carl.”

“Yeah—that’s Lieutenant Davis,” he pointed at her as he walked away.

She sank back in the booth with a grin.

[diane31]

Well that seems realistic, yeah! I'll buy that!
Thank you!

[Luxe de Luxe]

oh yeah, that's our Beth alright, BuzzWire junior reporter, equal parts enthusiasm, initiative and pushiness. Her first meeting with Carl could definitely have gone down like that.

[allegrita]

I like it! VERY dramatic!

Seriously--this is a very believable scenario for Beth's first real meeting with Carl Davis. I love the way you've woven in some of the lines and themes from the show... especially the way she calls him "Lt. Carl." If I were him, I'd get so annoyed at her for that!! And I love that he made her buy him dinner. It ties in with the original pilot presentation where Beth kept promising to buy Carl that steak dinner and only bought him pizza.

[redwinter101]

Lovely, Julie. I agree with alle - that Lt. Carl line bugged the hell out of me in NSTAV and I love that you worked it in here.

Red

[jen]

Julie,

This is wonderful. You have captured both personalities wonderfully, and the attitudes that they projected are right thre!!!

Wonderful!

Thanks!

Jenna

[nutmegger911]

Good job. Beth full of spunk and Carl full of skepticism. I could definitely see them meeting like this.

[Moonlighter]

I like this meeting! We get to the meat of their personalities right away, as well as their working relationship. And I love how you wove what we already know from the show in here -- the conchinita pibil, the 710 freeway shooter and 'Lt. Carl.' Nice!

(Does anyone know what a conchinita pibil is?)

[MoonShadow]

Nice Job! I thought this was a great take on the challenge.
Beth is fun to write, and Carl just begs to be written about

btw Moonlighter, its a savory pork dish that is wonderful!

[NocturneInCMoll]

FINALLY got time to sit down and respond.

Overall, in NSTAV I got the impression that Beth and Carl hadn't necessarily known each other a very long time--Beth had to remind him who fed him the location of the 710 Shooter (though I was far too lazy to try and figure out how that might have happened for the purposes of this story). Carl had to know enough about Beth to give her some grudging respect and a little more leeway than other reporters, while at the same time keeping her somewhat at bay. So this was something of how I imagined it could have happened. I bet he was annoyed about having to pay her back for those cochinita pibils, though!

Diane--Thanks for buying! Glad it was plausible.

Luxe--Thank you! Glad I got Beth down. She's kinda pushy, isn't she? Carl will probably learn to deal with it...as best he can.

Alle--Why, thank you! Glad it's believable--as always, I try to base things off of the show. I actually started writing this before I watched the pilot--and when I saw the Beth/Carl scene in it, I was like, "Perfect!" P.S. I totally agree about the "Lieutenant Carl" thing...

Red--Thanks! Yeah, the Lieutenant Carl thing bugged me too.

Jenna--Thank you so much! Glad I could capture Beth & Carl.

Nutmegger--Thanks! Glad you could picture it.

Moonlighter--Thank you! Glad you liked. My impression was certainly that they had a working relationship.

MoonShadow--Thank you very much! Beth certainly can be fun, and as you may know, Carl did beg me to be written about!

[wpgrace]

Lovely, Julie. I agree with alle - that Lt. Carl line bugged the hell out of me in NSTAV and I love that you worked it in here.

Red

I KNOW! Like he had come to visit her kindergarten class on career day... "Boys and girls, meet Lt. Carl. He's a poleece man!"

This was a fun read, light, but so very right.

[francis]

I like this very much. It has feisty Beth, proud of her job, competent and pushy. It has Carl, reluctantly learning that he can trust Beth's instincts. It has his penchant for fast food and the 710 freeway case. Great writing!

[NocturneInCMoll]

Grace-- Totally kindergarten! Tee hee. Anyway, thanks, glad you liked--I had to make it light, or it wouldn't have gotten written (I kinda wished I had had the mind/time to try and figure out how Beth got the shooter's location, but I was too lazy).

Francis--Thank you! Glad you enjoyed. As usual, I looked to the show for cues. Glad I could capture Beth's pushiness and competence and Carl's...well, most of the few things we knew about Carl.

[cassysj]

I really liked this. You got Beth 100% The Lt. Carl was just crazy in the pilot. At first I thought his last name was Carlton and that was a nickname. This was a lot of fun to read.

[NocturneInCMoll]

Thanks so much, Carol! Glad you enjoyed, and especially glad you think I got Beth right. She can be kind of tricky sometimes... And yeah, "Lieutenant Carl."