Chapter Text
“Dorothy, Kids, I’m home!” The police commissioner called out, shutting the front door as he stepped further into his home. It’s strangely silent, usually the kids would come running to greet him along with his wife. He looked around with worry as he removed his suit’s jacket. “Dorothy, kids?” He called out again, hanging his jacket on the coat rack.
“In here John!” Smirnov sighed in relief from hearing his wife’s voice, happy to know that nothing had happened. He walked to where he heard Dorothy, finding the golden retriever sitting on the living room couch alone, no kids in sight.
“Where are the kids?” He asked, seeing their toys littered across the room.
“They’re with a friend of mine, but that doesn’t matter right now. We need to have a talk.” Dorothy didn’t seem happy or angry, fear seemed to fit for the moment. She patted the seat next to her, wanting her husband to sit. The german shepherd went to sit by her with a curious look on his face.
“Is something the matter?”
“Darling, this is hard for me to say, but I’ll just come straight out with it. I want you to quit your job.” That shocked the commissioner.
“Where is this coming from?” Smirnov asked calmly.
“John, you almost died a month ago. It’s thanks to your friend that you only got shot in the arm.” Dorothy referred to the time Smirnov was interrogating a suspect in the hospital with his close friend Blacksad. But before the two of them could get much information from them, the suspect was sniped and killed. It was one of the rare moments John had been afraid for his life. He hadn’t expected that to happen and the shot to his arm could have been a shot to the head if it wasn’t for Blacksad acting so quickly.
“Dorothy, we talked about this.”
“I know, but do you have any idea how scared I was to find out you were shot. The kids thought you were dying when you got home that day.” Tears built up in her eyes, making Smirnov frown, it hurt him deeply to see his dear wife like this.
“I remember that, it took half an hour before they finally relaxed.” The shepherd’s chest became tight from remembering his kids crying, they didn’t want to leave his side that day and even slept in the same bed as him and Dorothy.
“And I don’t want them to feel like that again. I don’t want to wait at home wondering if I’ll have to attend your funeral someday soon.” Tears then started to run down her face. “W-what am I going to do without you? W-what will the kids do… without you?” Dorothy sobbed and John hugged her, rubbing her back to help relax his wife.
“I know it’s difficult, but I can’t simply quit because you can’t handle me being hurt. I knew what my job entailed and I accepted it.” Saying this to his sniffling wife hurt Smirnov, but it was the truth and nothing but.
“It’s up to you, your job or us?” Those were the options he was presented with and the choice was sadly too simple as her husband remained silent. “I see... I want a divorce.” Smirnov wasn’t too surprised, he saw it coming from a mile away. However, that didn’t prevent the pain he was feeling on the inside as he kept up a strong front.
“That might be for the best.” John said before he kissing Dorothy, sharing their last kiss. After they broke pulled away, Smirnov said: “This doesn’t change that I love you and the kids no matter what.”
“I know... I know.” After everything was said and done, John found himself sitting at the fire escape smoking, thinking of how things would change and be after they have their divorce finalized. He wasn’t one for tears, but he couldn’t help but let one fall down his face as he blew a cloud of smoke out from his nose.
Two days later, the commissioner found himself standing in front of Blacksad’s office door with a bottle of whisky in hand. Despite them being a cat and dog, they’re close friends. Smirnov then opened the door and stepped through, finding the sleep deprived cat about to pass out at his desk. “Depriving yourself of sleep again Blacksad?”
Hearing the cop’s voice perked the cat right up. “Smirnov? What are you doing here?”
”It’s nice to see you too Blacksad.” Smirnov shut the door behind himself and raised the bottle of whisky in his hand. “Thought you could use a drink and some company.”
Blacksad couldn’t help but smile as he got up from his chair and walked over. “Yeah, I could go for a drink right now.” Smirnov took his jacket off and hung it on a rack before sitting on the couch by the door with his cat friend. Blacksad already had two clean cups on the table, so Smirnov just opened the bottle and filled the glasses with whisky.
“So how’s Alma?” The german shepherd asked, taking a sip from his glass.
“Things have been good actually, how’s the wife?”
“She’s fine.” The mention of Dorothy hurt, but he remained clam. “How’s work? You seem to be deep into a case from what I can tell.” He then gestured to the bags under the cat’s eyes.
“Yeah, it’s another murder case.”
“A murder case? After the one last month, I’d hope this one is much simpler for your sake.”
“It’s not looking to be that way sadly...” Blacksad then explained the whole case to the dog. At first, the case was to find a woman’s missing husband which lead him to find that many men have gone missing and have been found dead, without a clue of who did it and why. The man he was supposed to find were among those people.
“Yes, I’m familiar with the case. We haven’t found any connections or leads that could tell us of who it could be. How about you?”
”If I had anything, I would’ve told you already.” Blacksad said and then downed his entire drink. Smirnov sighed and did the same before he stood up.
“I should go now, please try to get some sleep.” The dog said as he slipped his jacket back on.
“Yeah, you’re probably right.” The cat said, laying down on his couch.
Smirnov looked at his friend. “And John, please let me know if you find anything before you do something rash.”
“I’ll try.” Nodding, the police commissioner then left.