AN: A random idea that came to be when I was s'pose to be sleeping. I have absolutely no idea where I'm going with this, so until I work it out this probably won't be updated much. That's what I get for indulging late-night plot bunnies, I guess. I'm gunna try to make the pairing Rachel/Millie, but I'll see where it goes.
Chapter One
The nightshift had so far been slow. Sergeant Rachel Weston was sitting in the IRV outside a 24-hour café favoured by police unfortunate enough to get the late-night shift, sipping a rapidly cooling coffee and listening to her partner for the night, Arun, recount an anecdote from his training.
"So yeah, anyway, as he's climbing back down the tree with his baton in his mouth, our sergeant comes out and stands just next to me, and I'm too scared to say anything so when Bobby gets to the ground and turns around, he comes face-to-face with–" He was cut off as his radio crackled into life. Rachel's grin faded as they both froze to listen to the call.
"All units from Sierra Oscar; reports of a theft at the Andromeda bar, offender detained by security, any unit deal?"
Arun looked questioningly at his sergeant, who handed him her mostly-empty coffee and reached for her radio. "Sierra Oscar from Sierra Oscar 2-1, show us dealing." She replied as she started the car and Arun poured the remaining coffee out the window.
At that time of night, the drive only took them about five minutes. They were met by a bouncer as they climbed out of the car, and he introduced himself before leading the through the crowd of semi-drunk partygoers to where a second bouncer was holding the arm of a girl in her mid-teens. Next to them was an irate-looking middle-aged man in a suit, an incongruous sight next to the club patrons.
"Good, you're here. You took your time." He snapped, his tone and manner irking the sergeant almost immediately. He interrupted Rachel's apology with a wave of his hand. "Never mind that, I want to know what you're going to do about this delinquent."
"What's she done, sir?" The sergeant questioned, hiding her growing irritation at the man behind her professional mask and motioning Arun forward to secure the girl.
"The sneaky bitch took my wallet."
"No I never!" The girl yelled, struggling against Arun's grip. The constable was stronger than her, though, so she settled for making a rude gesture towards her accuser. He reacted predictably, and Rachel was forced to step between the pair of them to stop the argument getting physical. That didn't stop them yelling at each other, though, and they continued to trade insults and threats, ignoring the two officers' orders to calm down until Rachel lost her patience.
"Enough! Either you both calm down, right now, or I'll arrest the pair of you for breach of the peace!" Rachel saw Arun shoot her an amused look as she pushed Suit Man back a few paces. There wasn't really that much peace to be breached around here; the sergeant could feel the heavy base from the club pounding through her rib cage, but both complainants got the message and fell silent. "Right, now that we're being civilised, we can sort this out. PC Ghir, could you search her pocket, please."
"Wait, what?" The girl exclaimed, trying to back away. "You can't search me, I ain't done nufin'."
"I think you'll find we can. If you've got nothing to hide, you've nothing to worry about now, have you?" Rachel nodded at Arun to continue, but the teenager caved.
"Okay, alright, here." She yanked one arm from Arun's grip and dug around inside her jacket, extracting a black leather wallet and thrusting it towards the sergeant. "There. Can I go?"
"No. Do you want to press charges, sir?" Rachel asked the man, handing the wallet back to him.
He made a great show of going through it before shaking his head. "More trouble than it's worth, and I wouldn't want to waste your precious time, Officers. Forget it." He gave them a contemptuous wave and disappeared back into the crowd.
"If we see you again, it'll be a different story, you understand? Go home." Rachel warned the girl as Arun let her go.
"Whatever." She too vanished into the crowd.
Rachel sighed and rubbed her eyes, then started back towards the car. "Call it in; let them know the victim NFA'd it." Arun nodded and reached for his radio as the pair of them began manoeuvring through the crowd.
Rachel had just opened the door to the IRV, and was about to drop into the driver's seat when a figure dressed in the uniform of the club security darted from the crowd and slammed on the bonnet. He was talking frantically, but Rachel couldn't hear him over the noise of the crowd. Arun caught his arm as the sergeant moved around the car to stand beside them.
"You have to come, quickly, I think she's hurt—" he was babbling, and looking back over his shoulder towards the mouth of the alley that ran down the side of the club.
"Calm down, sir. Who's hurt?" Rachel asked him, scanning the direction he was looking in.
"There's a woman, I went into the alley for my smoke break, she won't let me near her, she's bleeding I think. You have to help her!"
"Okay, show us." Arun released him and they followed him to the mouth of the alley. Rachel couldn't see anything beyond the shadows, but the bouncer was pointing towards the silhouette of a bin about halfway down.
"There, she's behind that. Help her, please."
"Okay, sir, we'll take a look. If you could just wait here; we'll need a statement from you." He nodded, and Rachel made her way cautiously in the direction he'd indicated, with Arun close behind her.
It didn't take them long to find her. She had pushed herself into a corner, and had curled herself tightly in the foetal position with her head buried in her arms. In the half-light cast into the alley by a nearby street light, they could see dark bruises on her wrists and a bloodstain on one of her sleeves. Rachel motioned for Arun to stay back, before slowly approaching the woman. "Madam? I'm Sergeant Weston from Sun Hill, you're—Oh my god…" She trailed off as the woman raised her head slightly, and both officers saw her face.
"Oh crap, Millie?"
PS: Happy Australia Day.
PPS: Edited 21/5/14