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“Fuck that, I’ll just shoot ‘em. If I’m gonna do paperwork, might as well make it count.”
As Chris made his way to the front door, Hayley sprang forward out of Tex’s hold and threw her arms around him. He wrapped his arms around her, instinctively. He’d heard her scream and realized she’d been terrified for him. He also realized she might never have actually seen a fight like that before. His fingers found her hair and began stroking. “Hey now,” he told her quietly. “It’s alright. I’m fine.”
She shuddered against him. “I was so scared.”
“Oh, come on, now. You may or may not know this, but the army’s not just waking up in the morning and carrying heavy things. They taught us to fight, too,” he teased.
She actually laughed and pushed at him. “Oh!”
He chuckled and put his arm around her shoulders, steering her to the door. “Honest. I can dig a latrine and throw a punch. Though I can tell you right now which one I’d rather do.”
He got Hayley settled down and set her off to waiting tables again. He leaned back in his chair, watching her go. When she was out of earshot, he said, “Doc.”
“On it,” Doc said without hesitation, pulling out his phone. He dialed dispatch and requested an extra patrol for the bar at closing time, stating there had been a ‘disturbance’.
Chris grabbed his beer off the table but before he took a swig he glanced at Tex. “Thanks for hanging onto her for me.”
Tex nodded. “Looked for a minute there like she was going to throw herself in between you two. Brave little thing.”
Hawk chuckled and started humming Stand by Your Man. Chris rolled his eyes. “It’s-”
“Just lunch!” the other three men finished for him. He glared at each of them in turn.
Chris summarily ignored his teammates for the rest of the night until Slick’s shift was over. He was pleased that this time he didn’t have to go fetch her. She clocked out, put on her jacket and came to him this time as he was leaning up against the bar talking to Thomas. He nodded his goodbye to the older man and followed Slick out the door into the parking lot. He spotted a cruiser in the lot and was grateful Doc had requested one. Slick got on the bike without hesitation and Chris offered a nod to the uniform who was sitting in his front seat, looking bored. The uniform nodded back and Chris turned onto the street.
He’d noticed that Slick had gotten used to the bike. More than used it, in fact. She’d stopped clutching at him like he was a life preserver, which was nice on the one hand, but he did kind of miss the cute way she’d clung to him. She bade him goodnight and headed to her front door. As usual, he waited until she was safely inside before heading inside his own place. He changed for bed and as he tossed his clothes into the hamper, he noticed they were clean and he was pleased with himself. Not that taking down a bunch of college boys was any tough work, but still, he didn’t get anyone’s blood on him or anything. No additional laundry time. He slid into his sheets and clicked off the nightstand light.
Unfortunately, he was awoken just a few hours later by the sound of Slick screaming next door. He quickly threw on a pair of sweats over his boxer briefs and grabbed his gun, just in case, but he didn’t assault her house with quite the urgency as last time. Seeing the front door was closed, he opened it with his keys. He was about to call out that he’d entered his house when he actually heard her scream his name. His heart skipped a beat and he surged down the hallway. He turned the knob of the bedroom door and once again found the dresser blocking it. Slick was still calling out for him.
“Hayley!” he said loudly. “Hayley!” Hayley must have been startled by his voice because the screaming abruptly stopped. More calmly, he inquired, “Hayley?”
He could hear her gasping on the other side of the door. “Chris?”
“Yeah, it’s me sweetie. Can you open the door?”
She took a moment to collect herself he guessed then called out. “Okay.” It sounded like she was crying. He heard the telltale thumping of the furniture being moved and the door creaked open. Chris swept a glance inside the room just to be sure.
Hayley had her face in her hands, sobbing. He stepped forward and pulled her into his arms. “Hey, now. It’s okay. I’m here.”
Hayley choked on her sobs. “You- you were hurt,” she told him. “And I c-couldn’t save you.”
His stomach twisted and he squeezed her tighter. “Oh, honey. It’s fine. I’m fine. Everything’s fine. If two bullets and a bomb can’t stop me, rowdy college kids sure as hell won’t.”
