Spencer is a single-mother trying to take care of her four-year-old daughter, Lucy. While walking around during a nice Saturday morning. Spencer and her daughter are at a bank when three robbers run in. Toby is single trying to make a living as a cop. He gets called on to the scene of a robbery. What will he do to save a poor, young woman and her daughter in the middle of a dangerous situation?
Two-shot or a story? You decide.
With steady hands, Spencer fastened her black belt around her waist and smoothed her hands down the wrinkles on her tan belted dress. Flipping her long, brown curls around trying to get her hair to look just right. Her heels clicked on the hardwood floor of her bedroom as she walked over to her dresser mirror. She grabbed her favorite shade of lipstick called, 'cherry heart,' and applied it to her perfectly curved lips. After applying the stuff, she popped her lips together twice. She uses her thumb and index finger to tug the collar of her dress and squirts a little bit of perfume on her neck. The aroma of French Vanilla invaded her nostrils as she took in a deep breath. Setting down the perfume bottle gently, she fixes any imperfection in her appearance based off what she's seeing in the mirror. Once satisfied, Spencer shuffles over to her bedside table and picks her phone off the charger before tossing it into her black shoulder handbag.
"Lucy!"
Spencer's young, raspy voice called out from her bedroom and echoed down the hallway. Not long after calling, loud, tiny footsteps came stomping down the hall and into her bedroom. Standing in the doorway stood a young girl who stands at three feet and four inches, has soft, curly brown hair, and chocolate brown eyes. The little girl has facial features like the older woman standing just a few feet away from her.
"Yes, mommy."
Her voice is even raspy like her mother's. Spencer smiled while trying to put the last earring through the hole in her left earlobe. She always smiles when she first hears her daughter's voice in the morning. It's her favorite sound to hear.
"You ready to go?"
The little girl nodded, her short, brown ponytail bounced up and down behind her. Spencer finally turned around to face her daughter and smiled. Lucy stood there tugging on the ends of her blue dress. Her short legs are clawed in a pair of white stockings and end at her feet, which are wearing black dress shoes. Spencer walked over to stand in front of her daughter.
"You look very nice today, Lu."
The little girl smiled, "thanks, mommy. What are we doing today?"
"Well, since mommy doesn't have to work today, I figure you and I could spend the whole day together. Would you like that?"
"Oh, yes, mommy!" Her head bobbed up and down.
"Good," Spencer smiled. "First, we just need to stop by the bank so I can get some cash out then, we can go to your favorite restaurant for lunch. Later, I'll let you play nicely in the park with your friends. And, if you be a really good girl today, we can get some ice cream!"
"Ice cream!" The little girl squealed. "I love ice cream!"
"Good," Spencer lowered her voice to a whisper and said, "but if you want to get ice cream, you have to be a good girl today. Will you be a good girl for mommy?"
Lucy nodded, "I'll be a very good girl."
"Good, now, give mommy a hug."
Spencer spread out her arms and allowed her daughter to lean into her. Her small arms wrapped around Spencer's neck and held on tight. For the last four years, Spencer has been raising her daughter, Lucy all alone. When she was twenty, she got pregnant with some guy she barely knew. She knew the guy for a couple months before they slept together. Spencer knew right away that sleeping with the guy was a mistake, but after Lucy was born. She doesn't look at it as a mistake. Just the guy she slept with. Lucy's father bailed on them a week after she was born, so it's been just them. Today, Lucy is four years and two months.
It was hard at first for Spencer to raise a child, but she wasn't completely alone. A few of her friends helped her out whenever she needed it. Two of her other friends have children of their own. Like her friend Aria, she has a daughter named Layla, who's two years and five months old. Another one of her friends, Hanna, has a son named Matthew. He's three years and seven months old. Her other friend, Emily does not have any kids right now, but she has looked at adopting. Spencer's known Hanna and Aria for a few years now. The three of them met in a parenting class that they took together. Spencer's known Emily since high school. After Spencer introduced Emily to the friends she made in a parenting class, the four of them have grown rather close. They act as if they've all known each other since they were in diapers.
Spencer's silver Honda pulled up into one of the parking spaces at the bank and came to an easy stop. She made sure the car was in park before getting out and going to help Lucy out of her car seat. Lucy held onto her mother's hand as the two made their way into the tall building. Not many people are at the bank today. Just a few customers and two people working the desk. Spencer stepped in line waiting for her turn. While waiting, she dug around in her purse for her wallet. Meanwhile, Lucy looked around at all the bright lights shining above her head. Everybody seemed completely occupied with their own business.
Just then, the door to the bank flew open and two people wearing masks holding guns ran into the building. Another person came in shouting orders at everyone to get on the ground. A few people screamed and ducked down for cover. Spencer tugged on Lucy's arm and pulled her down on the ground with her, holding on to her for dear life. She heard the three people shouting orders at the employees, but she was way too concerned about keeping her daughter safe to really listen to what's really going on.
Across town in a semi empty police department, Toby sat bored at his desk scrolling through his files on the computer. He sat still using his fist to keep his head up. Not much has happened today. Not much has happened this week. He's done nothing these last seven days other than filling out paperwork for his boss. Toby started out as a cop in Harrisburg, but got reassigned to a town nearby called 'Rosewood.' They claimed that Rosewood needed more helping to keep the area safe. He's been working at this station for two weeks now and not much has happened. Earlier last week, he reunited a dog with his family and found a stolen bike that belonged to an eight-year-old kid. Other than that, not much has had to be done here.
"Cavanaugh," his good friend and partner, Lorenzo knocked on the outside of his door.
"What?"
"We're on the move. There was a bank robbery just a few blocks away from here. Let's go."
"Really!" He shot up in his seat excitedly.
Lorenzo cocked his head gesturing for him to grab his gear and hurry up. He's excited to be finally working on a big case. This is great! Well, it's not great that a bank is being robbed and people are in danger, but he finally get's to do something instead of sitting at his desk all day doing paperwork. The police raised down the streets of Rosewood and rushed into the parking lot of Rosewood Town Bank. Toby along with the other officers hurried to move out of the car in order to stop the criminals from succeeding in their crimes.
"Wait a minute," Luntenet Tanner put her hand up to stop them from all charging in at once. "They've got hostages in there, so we have to do this carefully. Ricks, Brocks, and Riley, you three set up a headquarters out here in case we have to communicate with the robbers that are inside. Calderon, Scott, and Cavanaugh, I want you to get in there!"
The three officers took out their guns and ran up to the front door. Officer Calderon leaned against the doorway and waited to give the signal to go in. Toby stood with his gun ready in hand.
"Are we going in yet or not?" Officer James Scott asked.
"Not yet," Lorenzo said. "I'm trying to get a good look to see how many people are in there."
"We should go in already!" Toby hissed.
"No!" Lorenzo shouted. "We don't know how many hostages are in there, where they are, and if they're in the line of fire. Cavanaugh, you have the best view of what's going on inside. Look in and tell us what you see."
Toby carefully poked his head around the edge and looked through the plate glass window. Right now, all that's in view is two men holding guns. There's an a middle aged man standing behind the counter shaking while the third guy demands money. Over on the left side of the room, he can see middle aged women crouching down behind a table praying not to get shot. There's also a man sitting with his back against the wall and his knees against his chest. Toby looked to the other side of the room and practically gasped at the young women who can't be any older than twenty-five. She's sitting on the ground clinging on to her daughter as they wait for help to come. A rush of panic came over him.
"There's about four hostages in there. One of them is a young mother with a daughter. They've got a kid in there!" Toby shouted to the other officers.
"Dammit," James hissed.
"We have to get in there now," Toby said.
"We can't. What if they shot somebody?" Lorenzo said.
"They might shoot somebody if we don't go in there," Toby said.
"Cavanaugh don't you dare!" Lorenzo warned.
Toby held up his gun and ignored him. On the count of three, Toby rushed in there and fired a few shots. When Lorenzo heard them shooting back, he and Scott ran in and started shooting. Out of the corner of Toby's eye, he could see the young girl tuck her daughter under her body and duck down even closer to the floor. All he could seem to think about during this situation is getting those two out of here alive. He doesn't even know them and he feels a certain duty towards them. Toby shot one of the robbers and watched them tumble to the ground. Lorenzo put two bullets in the second guy and he fell. The third guy shot a bullet right into Scott's left arm. He yelled out and tried to continue shooting while clutching the wound in his shoulder.
While all of this shooting was going on, Spencer held her daughter close and whispered comforting words to her all while keeping her eyes shut. Lucy started whining underneath her mother's grip at the loud sounds going off around her. She has known idea what is going on and why everybody is being so loud. When she tried asking questions, her mother shushed her. Without any warning, Spencer felt a firm hand wrap around her upper arm prying her away from her daughter's hold. The third robber, held Spencer's back against his chest, took out a gun, and pressed it right up to the side of her head. Lucy screamed and cried out for her mommy.
"Watch it!" The guy yelled at the cops who stopped firing.
"If you shoot one more shot, I'll put a bullet through her brain!" the guy threatened.
A look of horror washed over Toby's face when one of the robbers yanked the mother away from her daughter. It truly broke his heart to listen to that little girl crying for her mommy. He panicked when the guy turned the girl's body so his back is to him and her face is turned towards the cops. He took out his gun and held it right up against the woman's head.
"Let her go right now!" Toby demanded whiling still aiming his gun towards him. There was no way of him getting a shot to the guy without putting that girl at risk.
"Put down the gun," Lorenzo ordered.
"You people put your weapons down and get out of here!" The man yelled. "If you don't do what I say, I swear to god, I will blow her brain out!"
The woman tried hard not to whimper, but Toby noticed how her brown eyes filled with tears. There's no way he's letting that woman die. Not when she has a daughter to take care of. Even if she didn't have a kid. He is not letting that woman die. None of these hostages are going to die. Not on his watch.
"I'm going to say this one more time," Toby shouted. "Put your gun down and let the girl go!"
The guys lips turned up into a tight smirk. He shook his head and said, "not until I get the money I want, a car, and you people out of my sight!"
"You're not getting out of this alive, sir!" Lorenzo said.
He smiled, "well, then, I guess she's not getting out of here alive either."
The man clicked his gun getting ready to shoot.
"Wait!" Toby yelled. The man paused. "Don't shot her," he said slowly putting his gun down to the side. "Don't shot her. Shot me instead."
"What?" Lorenzo whispered to him.
"Are you serious?" The robber asked.
"Yes," Toby nodded seriously. "If you're going to kill somebody, kill me."
"Drop your weapon," the man ordered. "All of you drop your weapons or this girl dies."
Toby looked at the man while he slowly kneeled down to set his gun on the floor. He held his hands up in surrender and rose back up on his feet.
"Toby!" Lorenzo hissed. "What are you doing? Pick up your gun!"
"Just put your gun down so he doesn't kill that girl," Toby whispered.
"He's going to shot both of us, that girl, and everyone in this room if we do!"
"I'm going with my gut instinct and right now it's telling me to do whatever it takes to save that woman's life. Now, put down your gun!" Toby hissed.
"Better listen to him," the older man said stilling holding the gun to the woman's head.
Lorenzo looked at Toby and sighed. Then, he slowly set his gun on the floor and stood back up with his hands above his head.
"Wow," the man chuckled. "Fools."
The young women cried out when he released her. She fell to her knees making a loud thud and quickly backed away from him. Then the guy aimed the gun right at Toby's chest ready to fire. A loud gunshot rang out and everyone in the room screamed. Six people screamed, two shots were fired, and one person fell to their death.
What's going to happen!
This was originally just going to be a one-shot, but I'll let you all decide. Should I make this a short story? If so, I'm going to need a decent amount of reviews telling me so.
In the meantime, check out some of my other stories I'm currently working on.
Better Than Revenge: A story about Spencer and Toby becoming the A-team.
You'll Always Be & Beautiful: A story set around the time of the time jump. Filled with mystery, secrets, romance, twist, and turns.