This was written for the closerficfest but I'm up to my ears with studying for exams so I can't promise when all my pieces will be uploaded as I need to sit through them and edit them [in one case, I need to type a one-shot up because it's written in my notebook] and make a cover art.
130 = Sharon/Provenza - Sharon is being held hostage. Provenza tries to beat the clock to save the woman he is starting to care about a little too much.
Speeding Cars | Chapter One | Hostage Situation
Here's the day you hoped would never come
Don't feed me violence, just run with me
Through rows of speeding cars
The paper cuts, the cheating lovers
The coffee's never strong enough
I know you think it's more than just bad luck
They had fought the night before.
Truthfully, Provenza wasn't sure how the argument had started exactly; everyone was at their wit's end following a sensitive murder investigation involving a young mother and her son.
They hadn't fought like that in months, perhaps in more than a year.
All he knew was that he had to apologise, he had stirred the pot long enough for Sharon to lose her cool with him.
He had gotten up forty minutes earlier than usual that morning, to give him time to stop in at the quaint little bakery that she liked, which made her favourite white chocolate scones and to pick up a box of Lady Grey tea. She had taken him there once with Rusty, after helping the teenager pack his things up from Provenza's home so that he could move back into her condo. It was exactly the kind of place he expected Sharon to visit on her days off.
Glancing at his watch, he cringed at the idea of just how late he was. Trust him to run into the morning rush at the bakery and land right in the middle of the LA traffic. Yet, when he walked into the murder room, the blinds of Sharon's office were pushed wide open, the lights still off and the incumbent of the office missing.
"Where's the Captain?" He asked, dropping the bakery bag down onto his desk as he glanced over at Andy and Amy, each shrugging their shoulders. Sharon was never late, absolutely never; the woman was as punctual as a clock - always on time. "I was just about to ask you the same question" Andy remarked, his eyes following the older man's towards the empty office. "Maybe she had a meeting?" Amy suggested, standing up from her seat as she folded her arms.
Taylor's heavy footsteps entered the room, bringing a silence over the trio. In all his years in the force, Provenza could recognise a bearer of bad news almost instantly. "What's happened?" He asked, catching out of the corner of his eye how both Amy and Andy stood up straightener, matching looks of concern and fear masking their features.
"We have a hostage situation" The Assistant Chief announced, sighing heavily as he lifted his eyes from the ground to look at the trio. Glancing towards the empty office, Provenza could almost predict the words that were about to come from Taylor's mouth. "The Captain's caught up in the middle of it" He added, almost seeing the thoughts running through Provenza's mind as he sat himself down on the seat behind his desk; a blank expressing masking his features before he dropped his head down into his hands.
"Is she a hostage?" Amy asked, stepping forward towards the man with wide, bewildered eyes like a cat caught in headlights. Her fear for her mentor was clear on her face as she all but stumbled over her steps. "Appears to be; the hostage taker has released a list of names of everyone inside the store. Sharon's on it" Taylor announced, his phone beeping in his hands, forcing his attention away from the trio. "SIS is already on the scene; the press are already getting wind of it" He called over his shoulder as he began to disappear down to the corridor again, his fingers furiously typing on his blackberry as he rushed back in the direction of his office.
"You need to get the kid here" Provenza remarked as he leaned back on his chair, his hand covering his forehead as he breathed deeply. "I'll go and call him..." Amy offered, moving towards the window as she retrieved her phone from her blazer pocket, scrolling through her contacts list for the teenagers number.
Provenza felt as though the air had been taken out of him; as if a black hole had suddenly appeared in his life. If anyone had told him three years ago that he would be sitting her praying for Sharon Raydor's life, then he would have personally escorted them to the nearest mental health facility; yet now...all he wanted to hear was the sound of her Manolo Blanik's echoing off the floor of the murder room as she strutted into the room.
The door almost flew off its hinges as Rusty stomped into the murder room, abandoning his backpack on the ground as he made beeline towards the group, stopping in front of Provenza.
"What happened?" He demanded fearfully, dropping his arms to his side as he stared blindly at the man in front of him.
"Kid..." Andy started, but Provenza waved his hand to silence him. Rusty needed the god's honest truth, not some sugar coated false hope. "We have a situation" He began to explain, stepping forward to place his hand on the boy's arm, before following his line of sight. Rusty's eyes were trained firmly on the computer screen on Tao's desk, where the news channel was currently on mute while the screen from the store played out for the world to see. "Is Sharon...she's not...is she?" Rusty demanded, growing agitated as he took a step back, his hands making their way to the side of his forehead as he breathed heavily, the shock almost knocking him off his feet.
Andy took a step forward, only for Rusty to take two more steps back. "Kid...you need to stay calm..." He began, but before he could finish, the teenager had turned on his heel and was heading down the hallway.
Provenza watched as Rusty left the murder room as quickly as his feet could carry him. "Dammit Flynn, what was she even doing there?" He exclaimed, shaking his head before he followed Rusty down the hallway, letting the door of the break room shut behind him.
As the door shut behind him, Provenza's eyes landed on the teenager who had stationed himself in front of the television screen, his teeth almost biting through his lip as she held his head in his hands. "She'll be fine Rusty, Sharon is far too stubborn to let anything happen" He reassured the teenager, sitting himself down on the seat beside him as he looked up at the television screen.
It was a good lie; almost good enough for even himself to believe. Almost.
Sharon couldn't control what the hostage takers would do. They didn't follow the rules like she did.
Provenza clenched his fists as he forced his eyes away from the screen. He couldn't cope being here, stuck away in the office while half away across town, Sharon was being held up in a cafe by some maniac wielding a bag of riffles. Standing from his seat, he made his way out of the break room and down the hallway, grabbing his car keys from his desk as he went by.
"Where are you going?" Andy exclaimed as his partner headed towards the door with renewed speed. "To get the Captain and bring her home!" Provenza called over his shoulder, letting the door swing shut behind him as he made his way to the elevator, his fingers already dialing a familiar number.
"Fritz...I'm on my way down" He announced, ignoring the man's protest on the other end of the line as he ended the call and placed his phone back into his jacket pocket as the elevator doors shut.
He had opened the driver's door of the car when he heard a shout from the other end of the lot. "Lieutenant Provenza!" Rusty yelled, quickening up his pace when he caught sight of the man standing at the car, his backpack jumping up and down against his back as he ran at the speed of a bullet.
Desperation would do that to the son of any mother.
Rusty came to a halt at the passenger door of Provenza's car, almost crashing into the side of it as he breathed heavily after running down the dozen staircases and into the car park after the man. "You're not going without me!" Rusty insisted, his hand pressing against the roof of the car, the other over his heavy breathing heart as he tried to catch his breath.
Sharon would have his head for bringing Rusty to the scene, but if heaven forbid something happened...then Rusty needed to be there, and if something did happen and Rusty wasn't there, then Provenza would never be able to forgive himself. Even if he didn't let the teenage come with him, he was confident that Rusty would find some way onto the scene; he had after all picked up the tricks of their trade.
"Get in the car" Provenza agreed, nodding his head as he opened the driver's door and started up the engine, pulling out of the car park while Rusty did up his seatbelt.