Chapter 1
Lexa Woods looked over her shoulder, only to find the physiotherapists' office lobby just as empty as it had been before, when she came in, and released a deep sigh. There were no people who waited in the area apparently designated for it, off the side of the desk at which she stood. She failed to see any of the physiotherapists there, too. No one appeared to have noticed Lexa's entrance, despite the heavy bang of the door as it fell closed after her, and despite the fact that she had scheduled a consultation last week for eleven AM. As she blinked up, she looked at the big clock above the seats in the sitting area and confirmed that it was exactly eleven. Lexa Woods was nothing if not unusually punctual.
Briefly, she considered sitting down in one of the red seats and await her turn like other people would, but with a quick glance at the dial of her watch, which was spot-on right, and the confirmation that it was in fact two minutes past the time of her consultation, she believed, or hoped, it wouldn't be worth walking over there only to have to get up again soon. Surely, the physiotherapists must take time into their consideration? Lexa Woods breathed in sharply through her nose as she straightened a bit and unconsciously began to tap her foot on the floor while she continued to wait for someone to acknowledge her perfectly timely presence. Deep green eyes travelled over the fresh green plants by the white desk, and the colorful paintings that hung on the far wall behind it. That is when she noticed a small, silver-colored bell, on top of the counter, that was undoubtedly put there for just one reason ── and that was to call the attention of one of the staff. She decided against slamming her hand down on it to do just that when she caught a sudden change in sounds and heard scrapings of furniture, through the low rumble of indistinct voices that carried across the physiotherapists' office.
She couldn't help but wince slightly at the pain that she felt ripple through her shoulder and down as she unconsciously slumped her posture just a bit, and Lexa was reminded to straighten up. She silently chastised herself for not having been more careful when she injured herself. She would have preferred to forego this entire ordeal altogether, but there was nothing she could do to change it now. It wasn't as if Lexa had thought all that much about the things that could go amiss when she and her partner left the office to go on patrol for a while, nor when, on patrol, she suddenly saw a teenage street thug run as fast as he could from the market area, with a handbag that was not exactly the guy's style. Even if Lexa Woods had thought it through, it was doubtful that she wouldn't have acted on her instinct to leave the car and run off in the direction of the thug at top speed, the distance between them becoming smaller quite quickly ── Lexa Woods had been the best runner at the Academy, after all. Between barreling into the young thief with her entire weight and getting the man down, she had apparently managed to hurt the back of her shoulder pretty badly, which put her where she was now. The thief had been taken in and the purse returned to its rightful owner, a relatively young woman about her age ── that rather than the expected older female like in B-rated movies. She, however, was put on part-time desk duty and forced to 'get better', Chief's orders. Needless to say, Lexa Woods was not made to sit at a desk all day and couldn't wait to be fully recuperated, to be back in the field already. Until then, she would have to suffer through a few sessions at the physiotherapists' office, no doubt.
The brunette's head shot up as she heard footsteps, two pair, but she only saw one person emerge from the far hallway that likely lead to separate stalls where clients were treated for whatever was necessary. Upon seeing her at the main desk, the young ── and relatively tall, Lexa noted ── blonde immediately moved towards Lexa, beginning to speak before having managed to reached the desk, as soon as she was within a few feet, "Hello!" she greeted, "I hope you haven't had to wait too terribly long? Do you have a planned consultation or would you like to make one?"
The frustration Lexa had felt until that moment and that had been threatening to ripple off of her tongue the moment she saw someone, dissipated when the blonde addressed her. Blue eyes sparkled in the bright artificial light overhead, and her smile, which showed even white teeth, seemed absolutely genuine, fitting with the buoyant tone in which she spoke. It was more than refreshing to come across one of such personalities in a world where most people only ever complained about close to everyone and everything, Lexa thought. With a pang, she very briefly considered that she was not much better with her impatience and picky behavior, however internal. "I had a appointment at eleven," Lexa stated, attempting not to sound as mean as she had felt a few minutes before. "Lexa Woods."
The blonde's smile only seemed to widen as she passed her, towards the tall desk, looking away only to focus her attention to the thick agenda that lay in the middle of the desk top, opened on June 21, revealing all of the appointments of that day. As she glanced over the edge of the white desk into the book, Lexa could tell that it looked fully booked, although she couldn't really read anything. She quickly gave up on attempting help the blonde find her name well before she had started, aware that she wouldn't be very helpful. Instead, she tried to wait patiently, while she watched the woman before her run her forefinger down the page, her eyes scanning along several names. "I don't immediately see your name listed here…" she spoke as she continued to look for a Lexa Woods somewhere.
Lexa suppressed a sigh of annoyance but quickly pushed past it as she tried to tell herself the woman before her wasn't necessarily responsible for the messy scribbles. She doubted many people would manage to make sense of it. "I scheduled the consultation last Thursday by phone, if that helps," she offered.
"Mhmm," came from the blonde as she retracted her hand and looked up, giving up for now. "I will have to ask my colleague about it. I wasn't here last Thursday."
Nodding curtly, the police officer maybe expected for the other woman before her to leave the desk for a minute to go up to mentioned colleague and ask her about any appointments made the previous Thursday. The last she expected was for her to remain exactly where she was, at the desk, and open her mouth to yell the name of the colleague she needed. As soon as the ringing in Lexa's ears stopped, she wondered for some moments what thought process might have caused the young blonde before her to decide to yell for her colleague rather than go up to her herself.
"Colleen? Can you come here for a second, please?!"
At first, Lexa thought maybe the other woman, apparently called Colleen, hadn't heard her ── however impossible that seemed ── for nothing happened for several minutes, until the brunette heard footsteps and a door opening and falling shut again somewhere along the hallway from where the blonde before her had come earlier. Soon enough, the sound of light footsteps was accompanied with the appearance of a tiny woman in her mid-thirties with mousy-colored hair that was up in a messy bun. She wore thin-rimmed rectangular glasses, high up her nose, and a toothy smile that seemed to give away some nervousness. She nodded in a friendly way at Lexa but focused mostly on the blonde as she walked over to her side and halted beside the desk to see what the issue was.
Briefly indicating Lexa on the other side of the desk and then guiding the other woman's gaze down to the agenda before them, she ran her finger down the messy list of appointments and stated that, "Miss Woods planned a consultation last Thursday for eleven AM today, but I don't see her name here anywhere. Do you know anything about it?"
For a long moment, the petite brunette pondered the question, while the blonde regarded her with a kind gaze, before dark eyes fluttered closed and she lifted a hand to her forehead as she realized her stupidity or forgetfulness or both. "I remember. I was just about to go pick Victor up from kindergarten," the brunette spoke as she lifted her guilty gaze, first at her blonde colleague, then at Lexa. The woman's regret was incredibly visible. "I guess I forgot to write it down in my hurry," she spoke as she turned towards the blonde once more.
The pale blonde briefly blinked up at the police officer, who seemed to do her very best to keep her patience, then sighed, gently shaking her head. "I didn't have anyone planned after Arthur's consultation," she began, "and I don't have to be in class until two, so I can stay a little longer and take care of her now," she stated.
Colleen seemed incredibly relieved at the blonde woman's mere suggestion, her fear for retribution for her forgetfulness obvious enough before, and her shoulders actually slumped as if a weight had just fallen from them. "I will be in your debt forever if you could do that for me. I still have back-to-back appointments until five-thirty myself," she spoke before looking up at the police officer, "I'm so sorry for your inconvenience, Miss."
As Lexa gave a small nod as if to say that it was quite all right, the other brunette returned it before she nodded towards her colleague and turned back to return to her physiotherapy session the blonde had interrupted earlier, soon disappearing down the far hallway.
Once she was no longer in sight, the blonde woman looked up at Lexa with a wide smile. "It seems that we will be working together, then," she said as she made her way from the desk towards Lexa and indicated a hand towards the hallway to show Lexa that she was supposed to follow to one of the individual rooms for her physiotherapy session, which she did. "This sort of mistakes luckily doesn't happen often, don't worry. I'm Clarke, by the way."
Author's Note: Please review. I'm on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr as well, by the way ── feel free to hop on and have a look and follow me; I'm BrokePerception on all three!