To say Jessica Angell was having a bad day would be an under statement, hellish would be more suited. She was suppose to be at work at seven o'clock in the morning, but her alarm clock failed and she slept two hours over. Not getting to work till ten. She knew she'd have to stay later that night to make up for it, and her and some friends from the lab were suppose to go out that night. Guess her plans for a fun filled evening were ruined. She'd be sitting at the precinct catching up on paper work.
When she got out to her car, she found it wouldn't start. Cursing under her breath, she hailed a cab. By the time she got to the precinct, they had her out on a call. Twin four year olds were found dead, and abandoned, with their father missing. There were no signs of a struggle, and the place wreaked of alcohol. They automatically knew who the killer was. When the hysterical mother got to the scene, Jessica was the one who was instructed to tell her what happened. Before the cops could restrain the mother, she had slapped Jessica and pushed her into a fence, making her cut her hand on the wire. They took the mother away, and cleared the scene. Jessica was left sitting on the curb holding her hand.
"Hey Jess!" She heard the familiar voice of Det. Mac Taylor.
"Oh hey Mac.. the scene has been cleared already. The killer was the father, and the cops have gone to find him..."
"I'm sorry no one else was here. Is your hand okay?"
"Yeahh.. it'll be fine. I'll get Sheldon to wrap it for me."
He could tell she was down, and figured she just had a rough morning. Its never not rough when kids are murdered.
"Can I offer you a ride to back to the precinct? Where's your car anyways?"
"It wouldn't start this morning, so I just took a cab here.. but a ride back would be great, thanks"
Mac helped her up and they drove back to the precinct.
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She walked in cradling her newly wrapped hand and saw Flack sitting at his desk.
"Hey Jess, I was just about to call you" He said, snapping his phone shut.
"Hey Flack.. I got here late and was sent out on a call.."
"What happened?"
"A distraught mother pushed me into a fence and I cut my hand..."
"You okay?"
"I'll be fine.. Just gotta get all this work done"
"Okay, well you still coming with all of us tonight?"
"I don't think so, Flack. I was two hours late this morning. Sinclair will have my badge if I don't get this work done."
"Well, you can always come another time. I gotta head over to CSI and interrogate a suspect. I'll bring back lunch, okay?"
"Okay, sounds good." Jessica said. Maybe her day was looking up after all. She went back to her work when her phone rang.
"Hey Angell, we need you to question the father in the murder case this morning. We also have his brother here, and we're not sure if he's an accomplice or not. We need you ASAP.
She looked down at the stack of papers in front of her and closed her eyes. "Alright, i'm on my way." She hung up.
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By the time she got back to the precinct, it was seven o'clock that evening. It had taken 3 hours to get a confession out of the father, and one to write down the whole report. Then she had to wait around for the evidence that concluded the brother was in on it the whole time. In the middle of all that, she managed to get a few bites in of the lunch Flack had brought her. Now she was headed back to the precinct for the rest of the night.
"Hey Jess, we're heading out. Sure you don't want to join?"
"I would love to Flack, but time won't allow it today." He couldn't help but notice her beautiful brown eyes were sad today. He never liked to see her upset. Although she was his partner, she was also one of his best friends. They told each other everything, and worked side by side everyday. Seeing her like this broke his heart.
"Alright, Jess. Don't stay too late tonight and work yourself to death. I need my partner" He laughed.
She smiled at his quick joke. "I won't, Don. Have fun tonight."
"Alright, see you tomorrow" with that, he headed out.
She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, and tackled the stack of papers. By ten o'clock she was done and about to head home. She packed up her things, said goodnight to the remaining officers, and hailed a cab back to her apartment. She was so ready to get back home, fall asleep, and pray for a better tomorrow. So she thought...
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Flack, Stella, Lindsay, Danny, and even Mac were all sitting around a table at Sullivans. Lindsay and Stella were drinking Mojitos, and the guys had a beer.
"So Lindsay and I were walking out of the apartment with the silicone doll right? And she starts yelling stuff about me trading her in for a doll and totally going off on me in front of all those people. They were starin like I was some crazy person! I will get you back for that, Monroe, I haven't forgotten!" They had all been sharing hilarious lab stories all night, and everyone was rolling at the one Don was telling now.
"Okay well I have one!" Danny said, setting his beer down in front of him. Right then, Don's cell started ringing.
"Hang on a second, Mess, I gotta take this"
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Jessica Angell got out of the cab, paid the driver, and proceeded to walk up the stairs to her apartment. She got to her door and noticed it was slightly ajar. She knew she had locked it before she left that morning. She drew her gun out of her holster, and slowly opened her door. The scene in front of her was shocking. Her living room suit was flipped over and strewn about the apartment, dishes and pictures were smashed, papers and case files were all over the place. She felt the shock coming on from all the terrible things that had happened that day. The gun in her hand was trembling as she made her way through the rest of her apartment. Her bedroom was just as bad, and the window was broken out. Her mirror in her bathroom was shattered, and some of her meds were missing. She couldn't take anymore. She re-holstered her gun, not seeing any real threat, and went back to the kitchen. She slid down the refrigerator, pulled her knees up to her chest, lowered her head and let the events of that day wash through her. She was shaking from the shock as she opened her phone and dialed a familiar number.
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"Flack" He answered shoving a finger in his other ear to block out the noise from the crowd. "Hey Jess whats-- Hey are you okay?" He was getting worried now. He heard a shaky breath from the other side before he heard her broken voice.
"Flack--" Her voice broke, and the tears were streaming down her face.
"Jess, whats wrong? Where are you?" He was trying to stay calm for her, but the visual in his mind was making it difficult. The group picked up on his worried conversation and became silent. Mac was already getting up from his chair, and the others soon followed.
"Jess, where are you, honey?" He was trying to be gentle.
"My apartment-- someone was in here-- before I got here-- I don't know what to do" She stuttered to get that out through her shaking sobs.
"Alright, Jess, stay calm, we're on our way!" He hung up his phone and hurried out the door. Mac and the rest were on his tail. They arrived with sirens blaring, and squad cars in suit.
Flack was the first one to her door, where it was still ajar a few inches. He drew his gun along with the rest of them and slowly opened her door.
"Jess.. we're here.. where are you?" Mac and stella entered the living room and were shocked at the mess. Flack made his way to the kitchen where he saw Jessica sitting against the refridgerator still in the same position.
"Jess?" He reholstered his gun and knelt down in front of her. "Sweetheart, are you okay?" He touched her cheek and lifted her face to his. "Jessie, are you hurt?" He asked. She shook her head no. "Can you tell me what happened?" He prodded.
"I..uh.. got here and my door was open.. I came in and here I am. My place is a wreck." The tears started again, and he pulled her into an embrace. "Its okay, Jessie, I promise. We'll find who did this." He let her cry into his shoulder, until the shaking stopped. She eventually pulled back from him and wiped her eyes with her hand.
She sighed. "Today's been awful."
Flack helped her up from the floor, but still kept a proctective arm around her. "Yeah it has. I'm sorry you had to go through all this." She leaned against him again, while he stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head. "Why don't you pack up some things, and stay at my place until we can get all this cleaned up." She thought that sounded like a great idea, and agreed. They went into her bedroom and she threw some clothes in a bag. On the way out she stopped and took in the sight of her apartment. The CSI's had already collected her statement and some finger prints. They wouldn't stop working until they caught whoever did this. "Gosh.. I can't believe this. Its going to be terrible to clean up, and look at all the things I have to replace. This will take forever." Flack put his arm around her and pointed her towards the door. "Don't worry about it. We'll come back tomorrow and get it taken care of. Right now you need a good nights sleep."
"Don, thank you for being here. I honestly don't know what i'd do without you."
He cupped her face with one hand and gently kissed her cheek.
"I don't know what i'd do without you either, Jess"
And with that, he turned out the lights and they left her apartment.