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"So, where are we going first, David?" John turned to look at the slightly shorter boy following him from the corner of his eye, to see if his facial expression had changed at all; it had not. "Do you think she's even still in the station?" Dave shrugged.

"Possibility. And Dave, man." John nodded and faced the front again as they continued to walk, shadows formed by the dim lights of the station tugging at each passing object.

"We should probably check the front out first, then move to the back. Maybe she's hiding in a closet or something…? Oh, and sorry about that, Dave." John slowed down in his slightest to walk side by side with Dave, who shoved his hands into his pockets and blew a stray strand of light hair out of his face. He shook his head at John and continued to look at the floor in front of him.

"Nah, it's fine. But why would she. She think it's a game?" John chuckled to himself and adjusted his glasses slightly.

"Pfft, she'd probably love to jump out of a goddamn closet and just laugh at someone." He grimaced, sneaking a peek over at his new partner's face. He seemed completely collected, in comparison to John's unnerved feeling in his gut that maybe the girl was following them this whole time. He swallowed silently, facing the front again. "Speaking of being scared, doesn't she scare you, at least a little bit?"

"Well I haven't seen her yet, so…"

"Yeah, but didn't you hear us talking about her? Or me, you know, coming in so rushed and disoriented?" Dave turned to face him for a second, but then trained his eyes on the ground again.

"Hmm, yeah. She seems pretty tame though, she didn't hurt anyone." John was silent for a second, but slowly became the slightest bit agitated that no one was listening. Hesitantly, he pulled out the recorder again, as Dave watched and listened to the girl talk quietly over the voice recording.

"Do I really need to go through this again? And all the laughter!" He put the device away and threw up his arms in frustration. Dave crossed his arms and turned to face John with an optimistic look on his face, beneath the dark shades.

"…Do you have any proof she can do those things? Does she really have razor teeth? And John, just try and tell me that you have never laughed at stupid adults." John stared at the ground in front, quiet for a moment more. He noticed Dave was looking over at him with the same expression and he turned his eyes away as far as they would go.

"Well… no. I guess not. But I bet she can bite pretty hard!" He turned to look back over at Dave, who merely shrugged at him. They continued walking silently for the next few minutes, until John stopped to look around at the dark station slowly beginning to engulf them. They were losing the lighted front of the place to search, and would eventually have to recede back into the desolate, gloomy rear hallways of the base, of which there was not a thing to be seen; it was almost completely abandoned back there.

It was easily after seven or eight and the station was almost completely empty, save for the two men on the girl's case and Boss. The rest of the officers were either out working at night (which was unlikely), or at home sleeping or staying up late watching anime and stuff. That's where John wanted to be right then anyway, up late and chilling on his new couch, preferably under a blanket, catching up on the four-hundred Doctor Who episodes he still had left to watch, or even simply reading a good book. Either way, he did not want to be out that late on the cold and dark night of the Second of December. It hurt even more to know that his previous partner was dead, and how good exactly would Boss's son be? He supposed he'd just have to wait and find out. He seemed quality enough, but who could go off of looks?

"Okay Dave, if she's not in the front, she'd better be in the back somewhere." He and Dave both looked down the long hallway proceeding into the darkness. "…In the cold, dark, empty back of the station… Do you think that's her natural habit?" He squinted almost angrily. Every vision of that girl plastered into his mind was something evil and he doubted anything could change that view.

Dave stared at him sarcastically, giving him a look that easily said 'Dude really.' "Probably not. What is she like five." John thought for a moment longer

"…I actually don't know what age she is. I've tried asking, but she wouldn't answer me. She just laughed." He shrugged. Dave turned away and put his foot up on a nearby chair, stretching his leg.

"Okay well. I'm guessing she's like five okay. Anyway, let's just go look." The two of them made their way further down the hallway slowly and in silence. The light was fading away with every step and there seemed to be quite a large surface area within the darkness.

As they moved on further, they began to notice a patch of pitch black up ahead that was unmatchable by their lack of flashlights, or any lights at all for that matter. They stopped to acknowledge the lack of illumination and John wondered why they even kept this part back here if nobody ever even used it. There were scarce instances that they had to use the interrogation rooms, or even come back to just grab something out of a supply closet that may have been missing in the front, but in the latter occurrence, they usually left quickly enough, as the descending darkness all around was not to anyone's liking in particular.

They stared right into the black gloom ahead, until John turned to the temp and motioned him forward. Dave stared at him. John motioned again. "How about you go first, Dave?" The boy in the sweater narrowed his eyes at John from underneath his dull sunglasses, and John turned back to the front of them with an air of false offense. "Just, being polite…" Dave nodded at him slightly, brightening up, and nudged him on the shoulder.

"Ladies first, eh John?" John glared at the smirk that came with this statement.

"I offered first, Dave." They continued to stare at each other until Dave sighed and faced the dimness again.

"Alright, alright, I'm goin,' scaredy cat." He hunched his shoulders ever so slightly and began to proceed into the shadows. He was gone for perhaps a minute before John began to look for his figure among the blackness and called out to him.

"Do you see anything? Or feel anything? Is she back there?" No answer met his ears immediately and John waited, wondering if maybe he was stalking something that needed quiet. Maybe he'd found the girl again and was simply waiting to capture her.

No sound came from the other side for a few minutes and John adjusted his glasses slightly to determine if he could see anything from within the obscured. He was about to call out to his partner again, until a slightly high-pitched scream sounded from within that caused him to jump. Maybe he was simply hearing things, but he could have sworn that the yell sounded like the boy who had been standing next to him not ten minutes ago. He panicked and yelled out.

"Dave? DAVE?! I can't lose two partners in one day!" He cried, bolting into the patch of black. He tore through, not exactly looking out for where he was going, until a tug on the shoulder spun him around to a stumbling stop and he faced, sure enough, the kid in the sunglasses. There was a small smirk plastered to his face, and that was easy enough to make out, even within the shade surrounding them.

"Sup, John." John continued to pant, examining every element of Dave before wiping down his face and straightening his glasses.

"Dave? What are you doing? What happened!? I heard you screaming!" Dave blew a strand of white out of his face and shifted his own glasses.

"Oh. That was a ploy to get you in here." He snapped light-heartedly and pointed at John, who was staring at him with a look of grim annoyance. "Partners forever, bro," he whispered, and John narrowed his eyes.

"God dammit, Dave," he sighed at him. "You should just be glad I would even come in here after you instead of being smart and leaving the station." Dave shrugged and then shifted his weight to look all the more sassy as he cocked his head at John.

"You realize she's probably not even a threat and you're overreacting because she laughed." John shook his head slowly, in a grave fashion.

"Dave, you don't understand. She doesn't even talk or anything. And she just stares at you! No words or anything! Just laughing!" Dave shrugged and turned away slightly, as if to dismiss the topic. "Also, you know what would've been a good idea instead of arguing over who'd go first? A flashlight. I can't see shit in here!"

"Yeah, probably," Dave shrugged. "For the record, you must be pretty blind then, since I'm wearing these." He fingered the sunglasses concealing his eyes. "And I can see why she's creepy and shit. But is creepy the same as dangerous, John?"

"It doesn't matter if it's the same, Dave, either way, it's not good for anyone. And how the hell can you even see in here?"

"I dunno, but there isn't much to bump into here, FYI. I don't see anyone, though." He put his hand on John's shoulder gently and began to lead him along through the darkness. He stopped suddenly, releasing John. "Hey, wait." He brought out his smartphone and tapped the flashlight app, turning it on pretty bright. He then handed the phone to his partner, who took it slowly. "Here."

"Uh, thanks." John ignored the fact that he'd been lead around by Dave in the first place and held the phone half-cautiously. They continued to move along, but saw nothing. As they were about to leave the blackened pit, they stopped to look around one more time. "So, since she's not back- Wait. We still have to check the closets and interrogation rooms back here, right?"

Dave nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, I'd say so. I think I see a supply room up ahead. Oh and, why is it so dark back here in the first place?"

"Well, I know you're new, but not that many people work here, you know. We don't really use these back rooms much, and, besides, it is really late to be at the station.

"Yeah… Do you ever actually interrogate people or store stuff back here?"

"I think we store like, cleaning supplies back here that we never touch. Also, if we have to interrogate people, we usually take them to the main downtown headquarters instead of this small local one." John shrugged and looked away slightly as they began back into the dark all over again. "Although, personally, I've never interrogated anyone."

"How long have you been working here?"

"Maybe about four, five years? I've kind of lost count. Police life isn't all exciting as it seems to be sometimes, you know?" Dave wiped his eyes on his sleeve and continued alongside John.

"Well, yeah. I can't compare much, though; I've never been out on the field, really. Y'ever help in a high speed chase?"

"Only this one time, I had to get a drunk driver off the road. That one was pretty dangerous, I guess… And please, I bet you've done more than just being a temp at a police station, Dave." John turned to look at Dave as he hesitated with his next sentence. Dave scratched the back of his neck slightly and looked away as the man facing him waited for his response.

"…Not really. I couldn't decide where to go come college, changed my major around a few times and settled on criminal justice. Worked at a few other stations, but they were uneventful and treated me like trash. So, naturally, my… dad, gave me a job, but he said I'd have to work to get higher, so here I am." John's eyes brightened slightly at his partner's bashful attitude, but he did not smile.

"So, what you're actually aiming for is a police officer position? Like, we could be actual coworkers one day?"

Dave's response was quick and he continued to look away from John. "Mhmm. That's what I want." John looked away himself this time, shrugging.

"Yeah, most temps really want an officer position too. I've seen quite a few come and go, but since you're the boss's son, I think you do have an advantage here." Dave began to get noticeably tenser in the answer that followed.

"Well, I think he's going harder on me than the others but I dunno. I just wanna make him happy and proud, is all. We don't really see that much around my place." John noticed the sudden change in body language and immediately felt a small twinge of guilt for even mentioning it.

"Oh…. Sorry for bringing it up, Dave…" They were both silent for a moment, stopping only for a second to examine their surrounds and get the tension in the air to go away. "We should… Probably keep, looking for that girl."

"No, it's fine. And, yeah, here." Dave shook his head lightly and walked over to a nearby supply closet. He opened it up slowly, but the inside was empty. "Nothin' in here."

"Yeah…. Yeah, I guess so." They looked around further, but the rest of the place was barren of any activity. Once they figured they had checked everything, they approached the light again and John handed Dave's phone back to him. "Maybe we should just go look outside now?"

"Yeah, I think that's a good plan. She couldn't have gone far, right?"

"Yeah, I wouldn't exactly use the word 'fast' to describe her… We might have to use the patrol car to look around town if she's not around the station, though. After that, we'll probably have to call Boss. Sound alright?" Dave's eyes were alight as soon as he heard the mention of the squad car, but his facial expression did not change in the least and certainly there was no way John had looked past his cool façade.

"Fine with me. Lead the way, Mr…." Dave paused for a moment, coming to the conclusion that he did not formally know his partner's last name. John spoke quietly and smiled with an air of bashfulness.

"Egbert."

"Oh, uh, Mr. Egbert, heehee," Dave smiled and chuckled quietly for a small moment. John's own eyes brightened up at this and he grinned fully at his partner.

"Wow, Dave, I didn't know you had the ability to laugh!" Dave noticed he'd let this small instance go and his curving of the lips turned into something a bit more sheepish. He stared at the floor and John's smirk grew all the while.

"I… Don't like to laugh much I guess."

"Well, I think you should laugh more often, Dave." Dave looked up at him curiously, his voice perking up slightly as he pushed another stray hair out of his face.

"Why do you say that?" It was John's turn to look away this time.

"I dunno… It just, suits you really well I guess. I like it." John's own coy attitude grew slightly at the exchange. Dave smiled again, looking oddly pleased that somebody enjoyed his chuckle, and his grin this time seemed to light up the air around them.

"Thanks, man. I like it when you laugh, too." John chuckled lightly and turned to face the approaching doors. "…Now, let's get going, shall we?"

"Yes, we shall." They continued, bright and side-by-side, as they walked out of the dimly-lit station.