AN: This story has content about sexual assault. This story is both fictional but also helping me process a true event that I experienced. The characters are not mine, except for Chris.
They had just finished up a good call. The situation ended non-violently and everyone went home safe, including the team. Calls with happy endings are what made the job worthwhile.
The men had congregated in the lobby and Jules emerged from the locker room.
"Alright, whose in for some drinks? On me," Wordy offered. Everyone exchanged happy nods of acceptance. Jules gave no input. Ed looked at her.
"What about you, Jules?" Ed asked.
"Actually, I have to pass on this one. I already have plans for tonight," she said apologetically.
Spike could not resist the urge to pry for more information.
"Ahhh, who is in these plans of yours?" He joked
"Spike," Jules laughed, "Stop it!"
The team quickly took note that she did not deny Spike's implication that she would be on a date tonight. So they stood their ground, looking at her. She glanced around at their silent eye contact.
"Oh fine," Jules gave in, "His name is Chris, Okay?"
"Oo la la! Chris," Spike exclaimed softly. The team laughed. Sam's laugh was heavier, more forced than the others. He did his best to conceal his disappointment and jealousy.
"Alright, let's go," Sarge urged, wanting to put poor Jules out of her embarrassing misery. They all walked out of HQ and climbed into their cars.
Flashpoint-Flashpoint-Flashpoint-Flashpoint-Flashpoint-Flashpoint-Flashpoint-Flashpoint-Flashpoint-Flashpoint
She stood outside the restaurant in a cute blue dress. Nothing fancy, because it was just a casual place. She saw a man scanning the area and stepped forward with a small wave to get his attention. He made eye contact and smiled, making his way over to her.
"Chris?" Jules assumed.
"Julia," He replied, "Wow, you look wonderful." He was caught off guard, kind of taking a moment to admire her. "Well," he interrupted himself. "Shall we?" he said, gesturing to the door of the restaurant. Jules smiled as he opened the door for her and they proceeded inside.
The date went fairly well and Jules saw that having a relationship with Chris was definitely possible. They hit it off really well. At one point, she started to compare him with Sam, but stopped, reminding herself that it wasn't in the cards. As they walked out of the restaurant, he took her hand as they walked to her car.
"I had a lot of fun tonight," Jules said with cute smile.
"Me too," Chris replied, "Do want to go out again sometime?"
"Yeah, I'd really like that," She said softly. They arrived close to her car when Chris stopped. He looked at her, getting closer.
Jules held her breath as his face neared hers. He kissed her, gently at first. There was a gap between the buildings Jules had parked in front of, and Chris pulled her around the corner, into the alley. He started to kiss her more aggressively now, his body pushing her against the wall. She was taken by surprise by his forwardness and was starting to get uncomfortable.
The hands he placed on her waist began to wander and Jules put her hands over his, trying to still them—but Chris didn't seem to catch on. She stopped reciprocating his kiss, hoping that he would realize and take her signal to stop as well. He didn't. She lightly tried to push him away, but then had to use a bit more force to get his lips to separate from hers.
"Chris," She started.
"Whaaat?" He replied coyly. "Come on," He said, leaning back in.
"No," She said quickly, putting her hands up, "This is a little fast, don't you think?"
"Oh come on, Jules. Let's just have some fun!" Chris leaned in again, but Jules again put up her hands. He continued, "Just let it happen Jules, you know you want it." Now he moved in more aggressively, pushing his lips onto hers, hands wandering, and placing more of his weight against her.
Jules stood frozen for a moment as he started to slide his hand under her dress. She was in a situation she never thought she would be. She was a very strong woman who knew the ins and outs of sexual assault and trauma. She realized that this was escalating into that territory. How could she have put herself in this position?
He started to touch her and Jules recoiled. She fought and shoved him away.
"Stop," she yelled. He did the opposite, taking her forearms and pinning her against the wall.
"Jules," He pleadingly whispered into her ear.
She responded by tearing her arms out of his grip and throwing an elbow into his face. Was this really happening? He stumbled back.
"I said stop," She said firmly.
"Bitch," he sneered through his teeth as he wound up and planted a punch right onto her cheek.
Jules gasped and he crashed his lips onto hers, slamming her hard into the wall, pinning her arms again. He began to rip her dress off, a seam splitting right down the middle. He made the mistake of releasing her arms. Jules was now free to perform self-defense.
She threw an upper cut under his chin, sending his head flying back. His teeth caught her lip in the process, bloodying it.
Chris was now enraged and shoved Jules onto her back before she could even react. Her hand caught underneath her as she hit the cement, causing her to cry out. Chris was above her and about to move in, but Jules propped herself onto her elbows and kicked him in the groin—hard. As he doubled over from pain, she delivered another kick to his face.
Chris pressed one hand over his crotch and the other over his now bleeding nose.
"Goddamn bitch," he yelled backing away, slowly straightening back up and running back around the corner of the alley, out of sight.
She heard his footsteps grow farther away until silence surrounded her and she laid herself back down. She suddenly realized that she had to breathe and a gasp filled her lungs. The gasps kept coming until she finally held one long enough to exhale. Tears started flowing hard but she felt unable to make a sound in the dark alley. Alone, lying on the pavement, the gravel uncomfortably sunk its teeth into her skin.
She tried to adjust her torn dress but she was met with a screeching pain in her arm and her curse of silence ended as she cried out in pain. Giving up on fixing the fabric, she simply rolled onto her side, curling herself into a tight ball. Now she couldn't seem to keep quiet and her own cries filled her ears. She touched her hand to her face and felt the warmth of what must have been blood, trickling down from above her eye.
She started to shiver, the Toronto air harsh on her skin. She needed to get to her car. She began to sit up, pain spreading through her body like wild fire. She saw her purse a few feet away and crawled over, grabbing onto it.
Jules placed her shaking hand against the cold wall and started to drag herself off of the ground. The pain was nearly unbearable and she moaned, her vision clouding. She gave herself a moment to steady, then began to stagger over to the car. With her one functional arm, she searched through her bag, retrieving her keys and unlocking it.
She slowly climbed into the car, quickly closing the door and locking it. The sound of each door's lock clicking into place brought a small amount of relief to wash over her. She sighed heavily, a trembling breath released as the engine turned over. Switching the gear into drive she realized she didn't want to go home.
She knew where she could go.
AN: Is Jules going to be okay? Where is she going? Please read and review!