"Bring her out." Detective Dani Reese heard and relief washed over her. Crews was here. Obviously not with Rayborn if Roman's furious shout three minutes ago was any indication. Then confusion swept over her. If Rayborn wasn't here, why was her letting her go? Was he going to kill her in front of Crews? No, no, Charlie wouldn't let that happen. She knew that about her partner. Even if she had had doubts about Crews finding her, she knew he would eventually. Reese's eyes immediately found her partner's as she stepped out of the SUV and walked forward. Roman's hand grabbed her roughly and jerked her back before she had even taken two steps past him. She weakly fought against the hand, but the last week, lack of food, and sleep quickly caught up with her and she didn't succeed.
"Crews." She breathed, relief nearly overwhelming her. Her eyes widened a fraction of an inch as Roman's finger pointed toward Crews and crooked, indicating Crews should come towards him. More confusion flooded over her. What was going on? Why was Crews suddenly walking toward her with a grim expression. Over his shoulder she could see Bodner watching her, shifting on his feet uneasily, the same grim expression on his face that was on Crews'. Horror and realisation filled her entire body as she finally figured out what was happening when Roman pushed her forward with a vindictive explanation.
"Him for you." Roman said smugly, and a sadistic chuckle rose in his chest and bile rose in hers. Reese stumbled forward in stiff steps, her eyes focused completely on Crews now. Sadness chipped at his ice blue eyes, followed by relief to see her so well, and hate for the Russian monster behind her. Two yards away from him, she opened her mouth to ask Crews what the hell he thought he was doing, but all that came out was,
"Crews." What was he doing? Why was he doing this? Him for her? No! That wasn't what was supposed to happen. He was supposed to have some big plain to rescue her. There was supposed to be cops hiding and surrounding them everywhere and then Crews would heroically rescue her, spout some Zen at her, and offer her some fruit. Everything would be fine then, right? But everything couldn't be fine if he was going with this stupid plan and trading himself for her! She tried to tell him with her eyes that this plan was the stupidest plan she had ever seen him do. She thinks he got it, because a whispered phrase floated towards her ears.
"Just breathe." She heard. It took her a second to decipher what he said, before a small part of despair broke away into relief. The phrase had two meanings. One, he was reminding her to breathe because fifteen seconds ago she had completely stopped breathing. She took a small breath as she reached out a hand to try and touch him, to ask him without words if he really meant the double meaning, and to ask him what his plan was and why he was doing this. She tried to ask him all those things with only one short touch. Her hand was almost there and his hand was reaching out towards her, trying to tell her something.
"No, no! No touching. No tricks." Roman's voice called from behind her, and Reese heard a note of triumph in his voice as she passed Crews. The defiance that had helped her through the weeks to not break down in despair rose up in her and she brushed her fingers against Crews' anyway. And there it was. The small action that sent another small surge of relief through her body. Crews's fingers twitched against hers and pushed hers away, telling her without words to let him do this. He had a plan. It was then that her brain started moving through strategies quickly, trying to find the plan he was using. This was what she did during their cases together. He would do some weird action that on the outside left her glaring in frustration at him, but on the outside she was working her brain overtime to quickly figure out what he was doing. It had taken her awhile to perfect this action, but she had eventually gotten it down. No successful plans came to mind.
Her feet came to a sudden stop next to Agent Bodner. Automatically, she turned around so she could watch what was happening with a detatched sort of feeling. Terror was once again clawing at her heart as she tried desperately to change the one plan that came close to his actions, but still wouldn't work, into a successful plan. Different scenarios flashed through her mind as her gaze met Crews' while he was searched. After a few seconds, Crews looked away and would not meet her gaze again. Reese watched with horror as the man who had always saved her, whether it had been from a convict or herself and whether he knew it or not, was forced into the SUV. Crews met her eyes one final time and Reese was struck by the guily and increasing sadness before he folded himself into the SUV and away from her questioning eyes. A veil of tears shimmered in her eyes and she swallowed heavily as the two white SUVs drove past her and Bodner, dust billowing onto them. He didn't have a plan. He had lied.
Her eyes followed the SUVs until they were out of sight, rapidly blinking to try and keep the tears at bay.
"What was his plan getting in that SUV?" She asked the man standing quietly next to her, shaking her head.
"His plan was getting you out of that SUV?" Bodner answered her quietly. Reese stared at him for two seconds before looking away towards the place he had last stood. Her walk was slightly unsteady and she heard Bodner following closely behind her, but she made it to her destination in a matter of a few seconds. Crouching down, she reached out a slightly trembling hand and carefully picked up her partner's LAPD badge. The one thing that had kept him sane. The one thing that had made all the difference between who Charlie Crews was. With this badge on, he was a cop. He was the best partner she had every had and the one who had helped her quickly rise to the top again. Without the badge, he was a con. The man who did everything he could to find out who had set him up and the man who had risked everything for her time and time again. But, to her, it didn't matter who he was. It didn't matter if he was a con or a cop, because both men had been let into her heart because of the little things they did.
Her fingers brushed the dirt off the shining metal, cradling the badge like it was made of glass because she knew she was handling a precious thing from Charlie Crews' life.
Just Breathe. In Charlie Crews talk, it meant relax.