Prompt: Halloween. Anything to do with Halloween. In this case, I focused on costumes, and by extension, Cole's suits, as they are unlockable costumes in the game.
Words: 497
It was a nice suit, that first one. After wearing a uniform as a policeman, and before that as a Marine, it felt slightly more human in its way to go to work as a man in his own clothing.
With a smile, Marie adjusted his tie. "Hurry back," she whispered with a peck on the lips.
The suit had taken a few nicks from falling plaster and a grazing bullet on Bishop's set. Covered in dust, Cole thought he looked a sight. It was time to retire it.
So then came Homicide, and the driving into the dark underbelly of Los Angeles. Cole, in a sort of gallows humor, thought of himself as the Grim Reaper, drifting over graves in his dark suit.
Splattered with Garrett's blood, Cole stood in disbelief at Donnelly's quick reassurance of "Go home, and celebrate with your wife."
Rusty's cigarette smoke coiled underneath the church overhang. "Come on, we'll get a drink."
"I'm not dressed for the occasion," Cole replied with a clear sense of irritation.
Rusty's chuckled. "I'll think you look better than most at this hour, Phelps."
"Thanks, but I'll pass," Cole replied tightly, stalking off.
"Cavanagh's Bar. I'll be there 'til dawn," Rusty called after him.
Roy's teasing hadn't really been needed; Cole was half ready to burn that suit after what it had seen.
Marie said nothing on the matter when she found it in the laundry basket at first, but it did give her a chill down her spine as she ran her thumb over the blood stains.
"It wasn't mine," Cole replied at her inquiry, the suit jacket held out in her one hand. He pulled back his sleeve to check his watch, while what was left of his coffee was in his other hand.
Marie sighed. "Just be careful out there, all right?"
Cole lowered his cup to the table. "Sorry, I didn't mean to come off as callous."
"There was a man you were after, right?"
He nodded his head.
Marie dropped the jacket over the back of the chair she usually took. "You got him?"
"I did," he replied evasively.
Marie placed her hand over the back of the jacket. "Do you still want this?"
Cole shook his head. "It's another closed chapter." Glancing back at his watch, he mumbled under his breath. "I have to get going."
"You'll be back tonight, right?" Marie inquired, her fingers tightening on the fabric. Letting go of it, she joked, "The last time you climbed into bed late, I thought was dreaming when I saw you."
Cole knew better to make any promises he wasn't sure he would be able to keep. The night was absorbing his life, first in the darkness of Homicide, then in the decadence of Vice. Marie remained in the daylight before him while he wore yet another new skin.
"I'll try," he reassured with a voice that was stronger than felt, hollow in a new suit with his old regrets.