InsaneJournal

Arrest this man; he talks in maths...
Who: Adam and Linnaea
What: Friends catching up, but not in the way either of them would have liked...
Where: Roughly five blocks from Pax
When: March 10, a little after 1:00 a.m.
Warnings: A little violence; PG-13 sounds good.



The night had gone well enough. Someone had decided that having their birthday party at Newton’s just because they loved the place and loved Neil was a fantastic idea, and Naea, Juniper and Fran had made out like bandits. Linnaea was ecstatic for a variety of reasons, the main one being that it would be awfully nice to finally purchase some newer clothes--ones not from the second-hand places. Not that they didn’t have some great stuff, but just this once...

Unfortunately, someone else at the party noticed that the girls made out with some fat cash. And that someone else lurked around the parking lot after everyone else had left with every intention of getting hold of at least one of them. Ryan had things to buy, too, and the one he coveted the most he could just feel running through his veins.

He felt it as he followed the petite brunette when she couldn’t seem to get a cab after others had left. He felt it as he crossed the street when a darker section of the sidewalk came into view. He felt it even more as he grabbed hold of that long, pretty hair and threw her against the wall of a building in a dark alcove. When she cried out in panic, his fist met her pretty face and bloodied her lip, causing her teeth to clack together (she was insanely thankful after the fact that none of them came out). The prong of the ring he wore cut into her cheek when he backhanded her. Instead of demanding the money, he took her purse, took the cash out of it, and made off like a madman after throwing the cloth bag back at her and thanking her with a kiss on the less-injured side of her face. “Buy a car, honey,” he’d said.

It took Linnaea a long moment to gather her bearings. Her head was still ringing from that last smack and her face felt like a pounding fire. She wished she could have had the opportunity to at least have seen the guy’s face. Generally she was intensely aware of her surroundings and her mace might have actually helped if she didn’t have her keys in her pocket tonight. Why had she done that? What a stupid thing to do, Naea. Stupid girl.

Eventually, she meandered out onto the sidewalk, clutching her purse to her chest and startling a pair of casual bicyclists, mostly from her sudden appearance, but her bloodied and bruised face told them pretty much everything they needed to know. Calling for help, they waited with her until it arrived, asking her questions, talking to her... anything they could do.

The ambulance arrived in short order, the back doors swinging wide as the truck came to a stop. Adam was first out the doors, kit in hand, his black uniform already stained with drying blood. It had been a long night and it showed on his face, the shadows beneath his black eyes appearing all the darker for the thin edge of liner he wore. Even his skin seemed paler than before, gleaming in the streetlights, the deep color of his tattoos stark where they peeked out from beneath his shirt sleeve.

“Naea?”

He blinked, still moving to her side in spite of the jolt that came with recognition. It was not the first time he had attended someone he knew, and he was well aware it would likely not be the last. Nothing seemed broken from at least a cursory glance; they had time enough to move her, none of her injuries being particularly threatening, and so he lead her back to the ambulance, where she could at least sit and regain her bearings.

“What happened?”

“A failure in judgement,” she said. Her eyes trailed up from looking at her shoes to the familiar face. Tired as though she knew they both were, Adam was a welcome sight, indeed. “I was mugged. Stupid me decided to walk home and stupid me had my keys with my mace in my pocket instead of in my hand.” Naea sighed heavily, taking her hand away from the death grip she had on her purse and reached up to poke at her lip gently, wincing in response. Wasn’t that what everyone did with an injury?

Later on, she would probably be upset and likely cry about it. Not only the fact that this incident had happened, but she was lucky that it wasn’t worse. “I could have been raped or killed,” she muttered, finally looking away from her friend. “Sorry you had to see this, but I am glad to see you.”

His brow was still furrowed as he looked up to her, a thick antiseptic wipe wrapped around his slim gloved fingers. “You’re the last person who needs to apologize,” he said. He leaned over to her, touching the cloth to her split, bleeding lip. “Try not to touch that if you can help it.” That small wound was soon cleaned up, and Adam turned his attention to the deeper mark that marred her cheek. It would show a nasty bruise in the morning, but Naea’s point was a good one; in light of what could have been, she had gotten off easy. He had seen worse in just the last ten hours on shift. He said a small prayer of thanks, suddenly put in mind of the icons of Saint Christopher his mother had often stuffed into luggage and backpacks for so many of their trips, however short they may have been.

“I’m glad I could be here.” He tossed the bloodied cloth into a small hazmat bag, setting it firmly out of sight. His dark head tipped toward his partner, now speaking with the police recently arrived on the scene. “The cops will want to ask you some questions, and I’ll stay with you as long as I can, if you want. It doesn’t look like there’s any reason to take you to the hospital, so they’ll probably take you home in the squad car. OK?”

“Yeah. All right.” Naea could feel her face swelling in all the right and wrong places, but she was secretly glad she wasn’t going to need stitches--she likely wouldn’t have been able to afford it. Never mind the fact that she had to work tomorrow afternoon... Oh, brother. Neil was going to shit a whole house when he found out and possibly build an extra wing onto the place just so she’d not have to go home at night on her own.

She looked up at the cops who were going about their duty--one of them speaking to the biking folks and another who came over while Adam was trying to patch her up. The boy in blue started off with the typical ‘Can you tell me what happened?’’ This caused her to sigh heavily and reminded her of the time her ex shoved her through a closed double-paned window. As her face swelled and changed to a darker palette of colors, she explained how the evening had gone and what had transpired with her. “I didn’t even see what this guy looked like, but I have a feeling he was with the big party that came into the diner tonight--only because he seemed to know what he was looking for and didn’t just take my purse. Before he ran off, he kissed me on the cheek and said, ‘Buy a car, honey’. Then he was gone.”

A few more various questions--did she notice anything in particular he was wearing? What amount of money did he take? Her name, address and phone number. “Give us a few minutes to run this by dispatch and we’ll get you home.”

Naea looked over at Adam. He looked exhausted and in need of a damn decent night’s sleep. Trying to be reasonably light about the moment because, well, both of them could have stood a little happy right about then, Naea pointed at her damaged cheek and asked, “Does this make my butt look big?” She didn’t ask, but she also wondered if that cut was going to leave a scar to match the ones on her back.

He was grateful for the joke; her statement to the police had left him with much to think on, little of it positive. He had found himself openly frowning more than once, his lips thinned to a dangerous line. It was good to feel that expression soften somewhat, even if her attempt at lightheartedness did not entirely ease his mind. “Nah. You look great, Mr. Tyson,” he teased, the corner of his mouth quirking in a small smile.

After a moment’s thought, Adam turned away, opening a nearby drawer. A shuffling sound accompanied his childish rustling therein; soon he turned back to her, his hand full of single-use packets of A&D ointment. “Keep this on your cheek,” he said. “Be good about that, and don’t reinjure yourself, and you shouldn’t see any scarring.” Carefully he placed the little packages into a side pocket of her purse, taking great pains not to look through any more of her personal effects than he had to. The motion had slid him closer to her; without thinking, he placed a hand on her shoulder, giving her a reassuring little squeeze. “They’ll find the guy, Naea. Hell, he’s probably on the security cameras from the restaurant, and they’ll find him and pick him up before dawn.”

A smile at his putting the ointment into her purse--she suspected he knew the healing properties when tattoos were in play so why wouldn’t it work for this? “I don’t know, Adam. I have a half-assed description of a guy who came out of nowhere, and the diner doesn’t have cameras. Neil’s never had a reason for them, but once he sees all this” Naea waved her hand around her face “he’ll either install cameras outside or hire a sniper.” She bit her lip out of habit and immediately regretted it, a sharp intake of breath her response.

Linnaea frowned. She hated being a victim, even through all the times she had truly been one, she sucked it up and did what she needed to do without much complaint. It was the people around her that made it dramatic, and she just knew tomorrow was going to be a doozy. She appreciated Adam’s temperament and was inwardly very glad that he hadn’t freaked out about her. That had helped her out more than anything, even if she was out some $300. Another day, another dollar.

She watched the officers convene around the car, watched onlookers do their rubbernecking and hushed, “Oh my God, what happened?! Did somebody die?” and become rather annoyed by the whole thing. “I just want to go home and hibernate with my cat,” she said to no one in particular, even though Adam stood patiently by. “I hate the in-between of it all.” Glancing up at her friend, Naea found something of a smile and gently punched his arm. “Maybe I should get myself into trouble more often. I haven’t seen much of you around. I miss you.”

He smiled warmly, pleased to see her making a valiant effort to rebound from such a trial. It would be no easy feat, he knew, but he felt his faith in her well placed. That faith almost made up for his sudden frustration at her employer’s lack of preparation, but on that point, at least, Adam held his tongue. “I’ve been picking up some extra shifts,” he said, “and working now and then for this cleaner’s I found through another Pax resident. The legal, non-clothing-related kind of cleaner’s.” He cut her a sidelong glance, his lips thinned to a sharply quirked smile as he thought of his erstwhile co-worker. “I don’t know if you’ve met Pia. She’s pretty interesting.” He shrugged. “Anyway, you know how it is. Money’s been a little tight, so my social life suffers.”

He shook his head, dismissing his own minor concerns. “How have you been? Aside from the obvious.”

She chuckled gently at his comment on the integrity of the cleaners he worked for on the side and nodded. “I know how it goes all too well. As for me, I’ve been working a lot. I’m this close” Naea held her thumb and forefinger less than a millimeter away from each other “to being done with school, so that’s always good. Other than that, not much. My dreams have been bizarre lately, but whose aren’t from time to time?” One in particular, though, had been a humdinger and it involved Zio. It’d been some weeks since that particular evening, but it still rested in her mind when she least considered it.

Right about then, the officer who had been asking her questions returned to the back of the ambulance to let Naea know that they had the information into dispatch and would likely be coming to talk to Neil in the morning. “Let’s get you home,” said Officer Llewellyn, and not unkindly. “You’ve had enough excitement for one night, I’m guessing.” He thanked Adam for his work and helped the small-framed girl down. “You’re handling this better than most people I know,” he mused.

“I’ve seen worse.” Naea had something of a sardonic grin and sighed as she turned to Adam. “Try not to burn yourself down before we get the chance to hang out, yeah? I’ll make you dinner one of these days.” She reached out and squeezed Adam’s arm gently. “Be well and stay safe.”

“You too, Naea.” Adam watched them as they left, his eyes on her retreating back as he stripped the gloves from his hands. Distracted, he offered a cursory thanks to his partner, now clambering back into the truck after ensuring there had been no other injured parties. And then they were gone, retreating to their separate lives, with only her wounds and his vague sense of unease to accompany them.