I'm feeling a change in the air.
There's been a lot of dead ends during this case and she's tired of waiting. They break in to the warehouse (note: on the report, the lock will have been left open) and they glide in, guns out and down. All she can see at first is a lot of shelves full of nothing but boxes and glass to the back, she's looking down one of the aisles when West calls softly, "Hey, boss. I think I found something."
She jogs over and stiffens when she sees what he's found. It's a pool of blood.
They're definitely not at a dead end anymore.
She kneels down next to it and dips her fingers in the shiny patch.
"What d'you think, Zee?" the soft voice calls from behind her. She shivers as she cleans off her hand.
"It's still warm." She shares a look with Megan.
"I don't think anyone who lost that much blood would be doing so hot right about now," West comments.
"Yeah, but who lost it, exactly?" she murmurs quietly to herself.
"You're correct. I'm not doing that fantastic at the moment."
She freezes. No, it can't be, it can't, she tries to convince herself.
But it is. It's his voice, and it all comes together in her head that it's his blood here and it was his life all along. And she turns and it is most definitely him, with his smile crinkles by his eyes (still as green as a summer's day) even though he's not smiling, and that stupid sophisticated mustache that she's missed so much.
It only takes her two seconds (one huge leap) to suddenly be on the other side of the stain on the floor and in his arms. He grunts softly, and she remembers that he must be hurt, how else is his blood on the floor, but right now, it doesn't seem to matter, to him or her, and they hug and the moment is timeless.
After seconds (minutes, hours?) she whispers, "Dad," and with one word aloud, a thousand are understood.
She jolts at the sound of a high, incessant beeping. The kitchen's smoke alarm. It all hits her in an instant: she's not a cop, she's only sixteen, she's stuck living at Mount Justice, and her dad, while still alive and uninjured, isn't really even her dad anymore.
She lets out a small gasp, struggling not to cry. "I hate this," she whispers, shoving off her blankets and standing.
Later (much, much later) she'll look back and laugh at the fact that she'd watched too much Castle right before bed and ended up leading a dreamland criminal investigation team with Wally and M'gann on it. But not right now.
Right now, it hurts too much.
Posting this because of reasons, the number one being that it is my birthday, and I feel like accomplishing something. XD
This came to me in a fit of randomness. It doesn't make sense. It's not supposed to make sense. It's a dream - let the nonsensicality ensue!
Also, warning - there's more to come.
