"Peaceful"
by Cardinal Robbins
Disclaimer: Munch isn't mine…yet. His partner is mine, however.
A challenge response to the word 'peaceful.'
We were given a day off, after a grueling seven-day stretch in which we busted no less than four skels responsible for a kiddie porn distribution ring. Endless hours searching databases, scouring upper Manhattan for the perps, finding them, building a case and then moving in for the bust. Wrapping their wrists in metal cuffs was deeply satisfying, almost gratifying actually; certainly as celebratory as knowing they'd all be growing old in Rikers.
We went home to sleep, my partner and I. To finally close our eyes and not see children made up as garishly painted dolls, dressed in skimpy costumes that left nothing to the imagination. We fell deep into an almost comatose stupor, exhaustion finally overtaking us after we held it off for what seemed like days on end.
I woke up before she did, if only for a few moments before dropping back into deep sleep, but in that time my world – and hers – was a peaceful place at last. As I watched her chest rise and fall with the steady rhythm of her breathing, it was almost hypnotic. Her reddish blonde hair tousled, the long lashes of her closed eyes, a slight smile on her thin lips, you would have thought she was anything but a cop.
How someone who had killed a perp in the line of duty could look so peaceful, I didn't know, but there she was. She slept soundly, not the postured 'girlfriend' sleep of the women I'd known before. Not her. She made no apologies for softly snoring, unknowingly stealing the covers, or having chilly feet. She didn't feel the need to put makeup on to sleep in, ruining the pillows with beauty products of questionable origins. Never her. She would take a sleeping pill and eventually pass out, my arm beneath the graceful curve of her neck, until my fingers started to tingle and I'd have to carefully pull away. I could sleep with the knowledge she'd drape her arm over me, sooner or later; something I always looked forward to as she slept beside me.
There were times I could sense her watching me as I slept, the weight of her gaze lightly upon me. She would prop herself up on one elbow and simply look at me, not realizing my eyes weren't quite completely closed. Or maybe she did know, as she leaned over and delicately kissed me, her fingers tracing across my face while she smiled. She would eventually snuggle next to me once more, satisfied, content to be near me as we slept.
Few things in my life were ever so peaceful.
With time, I fell back into deep sleep, but not before I leaned over to kiss her, gently, so as not to wake her. The last thing I wanted was to wake her – to take her from whatever dreams had come, hopefully illusions of something other than the depravity we saw day after day. I said a silent prayer she was somewhere in a dream, perhaps one she'd had before and returned to with a sense of joy and relief. Maybe she was there with me.
As my mind wandered, my eyes closed and sleep ready to take me down, I hoped she was somewhere peaceful.