chicating | More Faith/ Mcnulty...Well, Bunk, first

It was strange for Bunk, even as half-assed as his new health kick was, not to trust his own perceptions. Though he felt very sober now, and oddly geeked, if he were a kid and it was Christmas morning and Star Wars was about to come out, all at once. He was skeptical, and a little afraid, but he also felt as though he had a fresh new set of nerve endings he’d never used that were waiting to out and feel things. But, being who he was and where he was, he supposed skepticism got the first shot.
“You can tell me,” he says, finally. “ Was it a hologram? Are you some kind of artist? Would you rather tell Jimmy? Did he put you up to this?”
“He was a vampire…I staked him and saved the day. Although I’m guessing you and your friend don’t ogle many heroes.” She was casually telling her crazy story and he looked at the way her skin glistened with exertion. Though she was still pale for his taste, Bunk felt as though he could feel her maturing as they sat together and he stood up to put some distance between them.
“Vampires, really? Well, I should have known there wasn’t really some fool attacking folks with a barbecue fork…at least, not most of the time.” While he still didn’t feel the animal energy toward this young woman that spelled a McNulty Saturday night in what you might literally call the naked city without getting all poetic and shit, he was suddenly aware of an urge to stand taller, of wishing he’d picked out a better shirt that morning, and of cataloging all the cases he knew where ordinary objects could be used as weapons. “Yeah, it happens all the time…kitchen knives, obviously, but I have caught people using the occasional old-fashioned telephone receiver…and there was an attempted with a TV remote last week.”
“Sounds bitchin’…I’m sure you guys really are Baltimore’s finest, right?” Even though he was ninety-eight percent sure he didn’t want this young woman intimately, something about the way she looked at him made Bunk’s chest expand in a way he liked and wanted to feel again.
“Well, we didn’t need our best for that one…kind of a sloppy crime of passion. You know? No plan, just using what came easily to hand.” Shit…was talking about this stuff always this suggestive?
“You really need to meet my friend. And not just because he’s been watching you for hours. Damn, that didn’t sound right.”
“Well, I’m always down for the right double act… now, who didn’t sound right?”