Prompt: N/A
Plot: AU She laughed and kissed him again before walking away.
He should have made her stay; he should have pulled her close and made her stay.
Rating: T
He felt his body go numb, his gaze was distant and eyes staring straight ahead towards the wall. The phone he held in his grip slacked, the voice on the other end going in one ear and coming out the other.
Quinn had stopped paying attention to what the other person was telling him after he had heard the initial news.
Why were they still talking?
"Her parents want to hold a small ceremony." The other person on the line cleared their throat, but he knew he could hear the slight crack in their voice.
He was holding his tears in too.
"I-I'm sorry. Um, they just want something small. K-Keller isn't," Daphne took in a shaky breath, "you know." Whatever it was that she was going to say, was cut off when the dial tone sounded in her ear.
Quinn didn't bother to finish hearing what she had to say, he already knew. He already knew what'd she say. The people she would bring up, the withheld tears she wanted to release again only to swallow them back down via a painful lump.
He already knew exactly how everything would pan out.
Quinn knew, but he just couldn't really process it.
Rashel was gone. Never to come back.
Dead.
He felt his chest tighten, his head throb and eyes begin to water. The word dead kept bouncing in his thoughts. Rashel and dead shouldn't have even been in the same sentence.
But it was because that's what Daphne had relayed to him on the phone not even 15 minutes ago. After the normal greetings, he had picked up on her tone; the sudden stalling. He had brushed it off as nerves because she is currently pregnant and had suffered a miscarriage a few months earlier.
He had thought it was something about her baby. If Rashel ever found out she had called and he hadn't asked – she would kill him herself. Except it wasn't worries about the baby this time. Daphne wasn't calling to reassure herself or to be polite.
No, instead she had choked out a sob and took a few minutes before saying the words he just knew didn't belong together.
"Oh, Quinn! Sh-she! I just, oh god! Rashel, Rashel she – she isn't coming back. Rashel is dead. Oh, oh fuck." All that followed by a meek sorry and the sounds of sobbing before she had picked up the phone again and just started going on about arrangements.
Only, he had zoned out on that part because, obviously – who would listen to the rest?
After he had hung up, he swore he could feel his heart break. It was painful and it hurt just as much as people said it would. Everything felt painful. Breathing, seeing, just being felt like torture.
But his true pain lied in his head.
Because Rashel is dead.
Rashel Jordan, his fiancé, his other half, his soulmate, is dead.
Vaguely, he can hear his phone ring. The shrill sound suddenly snapping him out but not making the situation any better. How could it?
Quinn had always known there would be a possibility that Rashel might not come back from the front lines. They had both known, except it was always seen as such an impossible thing. They had the mentality most people have; it won't happen to me.
They had expectations, they had hopes. Hopes that Rashel would come back from her tour, they share a kiss, hold hands and continue on with their lives until they were called back to fight.
His tour had been over months before hers. They made plans that after her own tour was done, she'd come back and they'd prepare for the wedding and start finding normal jobs. She would head back to college and he would work in a law firm with the title he never used but had earned.
They'd work like normal people and would be married within a year and after three, they'd start planning a family.
But Rashel wouldn't come back from her tour the way she had left for it.
She wouldn't come off the plane with her ebony hair in a standard bun or her emerald eyes gleaming with love and joy seeing Quinn with an over the top bouquet and flashy posters. She wouldn't roll her eyes at him or their friends and family while she took his gift and plants a kiss on his cheek, wouldn't mumble under her breath but smile when he calls her Kitten or when her twin, Keller would mock her.
Rashel wouldn't be coming back all smiles and love. Instead, she'll come back in a black box with the flag folded and their countries' men saluting her as their friends and family wear black and cry in pain.
Can't – can't breathe!
The words kept replaying in his head like a continuous loop. His palms began to sweat and he gasped for breath. He needed to leave, he has to leave! The apartment suddenly seemed too big, too quiet, too empty. Rashels' presence was there, suddenly it became too much for Quinn to handle knowing what he did.
Quinn didn't know where'd he would go, his fingers just grasped the car keys foregoing any type of jacket despite the cold autumn air and he rushed down the ridiculous number of steps.
"Hey! We need the exercise, John! We can't just be lazy for several months on end!"
With shaky fingers he managed to throw the outside door open and somehow shove the car keys into the ignition.
He knows he shouldn't be driving. He could hurt people; he could hurt himself. He didn't care. He just slammed the car door shut and slammed his foot on the pedal and sped down the road.
Looking back at it, his only saving grace from not actually killing anyone was the fact that it was 1 a.m. and a weekday.
Quinn didn't know where he was going; all he felt was the cold whips of air smacking him in the face, the tears he had been trying to suppress blurring his vision and choked back sobs finally letting themselves be known. Speeding down the road and swerving between lanes, all he can recall are memories of Rashel.
"Stationed here too?"
"Yup, first tour. You?" Quinn grinned.
"Fifth. Newbies are usually sent somewhere less hostile. Let me guess, teacher's pet?" The girl with silky, ebony hair had laughed. Her mauve lips stretched in a wide smile revealing a lone dimple on the upper corner while her laugh sounded just like the soft bells from a windchime. Quinn took his time checking her out.
He thought her breathtaking. She was small, body athletic with firm, slim curves. Her skin was slightly tan, facial bone structure soft and feminine but with a hint of sharp angled cheekbones and exotic eyes.
He knew right then and there he had fallen in love already with her eyes.
They were green, a rich jade color in the sun, slightly angled in a natural cat eye. Her long, thick lashes made them pop out even more in intensity. Jade in the sun, but emerald in the shade. If you examined them as closely as he had, he knows you'd notice the little flecks of gray in those eyes giving them an exotic appearance.
At the moment, her eyes turned mischievous. "Ever heard of Leopold "The Panther" Jordan?"
She stole his heart then and there.
"Our tour is over. Ready to go back home for a while?"
"Definitely! Keller will be happy to know I can make it to her wedding. She swears she never saw herself marrying Galen. As if I didn't notice her obsession with that leopard stuffed toy, he had given her back in middle school." She had suddenly looked uncomfortable, her teeth gnawing on her lower lip as she looked like she was weighing options in her mind.
Before she could speak, he beat her to the punch.
"Do you have a date?"
"Hm? Oh, no. I figured I'd just show up solo." He laughed and swung an arm around her.
"How about I be your date and you introduce me as your second, better half?" She had laughed but the lovely blush that stayed after had been worth the punch she had given him mere seconds later.
Needless to say, after that wedding date, there had been plenty of other dates with promised bodily harm and sweet pleasures.
After years of dating, the little fights here and there and the shared apartment key – she had told him about the bridge.
It was where her father first met her mother, Melisande.
Where he proposed to her after a few years.
Where her mothers' water broke and they were born right there because the car had broken down earlier and the ambulance was still far away.
The same bridge where they had each carved their names into it as a family activity and where their father stayed with their mother as she took her last few breathes while the late stages of cancer stole her away from them. The same bridge her father looked over one last time before the car ahead of him lost control of itself and rammed right into him.
And regardless of the last few tragedies that bridge had caused her and her sister, she had always stated she would want her fiancé the propose to her at the exact same bridge.
So that's what John Quinn did.
After consulting with Ash and going through Keller and Galen's vigorous interrogation and gaining their daughters' seal of approval, he did exactly that.
He bought the classic, beautiful ring she had eyed when they had passed by it at the mall and bought her to the bridge asking if she could pin point where exactly this knock off rainbow fish, she swore she saw at age six.
Just to have her turn around, jaw drop and eyes become bright, jade jewels as he presented himself before her on one knee and velvet black box held open with the ring as he asked her to be his in this life and the next.
She had cried a tearful, happy yes and promptly shoved her tongue down his throat.
Quinn always knew he had fallen in love with her the first time he saw her.
Then he remembers her deployment, the kisses and touches goodbye.
She had a radiant smile, lips wide and eyes a little distant, a little sad as she looked towards him.
But that was always the look they gave each other. Still, that look would momentarily disappear when they took each other's hands and she placed a kiss on his lips and said his favorite, beautiful words.
"I love you, John Quinn."
"I love you Rashel Jordan. Be safe, I'll see you when you get back."
She laughed and kissed him again before walking away.
He should have made her stay; he should have pulled her close and made her stay.
He felt his hands tighten on the steering wheel, his eyes welling up with tears again when their last phone call replayed in his ears.
"I'll be back within a week, maybe two. Keller said she'd bring Melody around; I can't believe she's already four and as sassy as Keller is."
Quinn had laughed and leaned against the table. The phone in one hand and the spoon in the other.
They talked about everything and anything until it was late into the night. And before he hung up, he said "I love you; I'll see you soon Kitten."
"I love you too John, I'll see you soon, at the bridge remember!"
But he wasn't going to see her. He wasn't and just repeating those memories in his head, he felt his chest constrict again.
He should have told her he loved her more often, he should have kissed her harder, kissed her softer, he should have treasured her. . .
But he lost her and he wouldn't get her back.
Quinn didn't even bother to adhere to the honks of some cars or the screaming pedestrians running out of the way.
His only thought was the bridge.
Her tawny colored eyes scanned the streets again, the few cars driving around were few and far between. Honestly, Dove didn't know what the point was in having her do late night patrolling. The cars here were few, especially at this time – and the people were pretty good at following the rules and signs. Sure, a few bad eggs in the batch liked to think they were drifting, racing bad-asses, but they almost always ended up begging for mercy when the ticket and the pen were in her hands.
Dove figured this night would end like the rest of the others; a few cars, barely any tickets and maybe an occasional racer. Sighing, she threw her hickory hair back into the ponytail it had been in, her eyes beginning to lower with boredom.
She considered just turning in and ending her shift early, the promise of 24-hour fast food drive thru singing her name. But before she could phone in and let the other patrol on call know, she heard a curse and before she knew it, a car was speeding past her. The driver was swerving, tail lights flickering one way or the other but never in a specific setting.
Drunk driver, Dove figured. Only they'd be reckless on the road. Turning her lights on and the familiar sound of the siren, she pulled away from the little hidden corner and sped up after the driver.
Quinn heard the siren, even in the state he was he knew that dreadful sound was meant to warn him.
It didn't matter actually, because it wasn't going to stop him from seeing Rashel.
"I love you too John, I'll see you soon, at the bridge remember!"
Dove sighed and felt annoyance flood her for a second.
Usually, after a block of chasing, most people would pull over and beg or curse her out. But the driver, who Dove had managed to get a glimpse of – was not stopping any time soon.
In fact, he sped up and Dove had a hard time trying to tail him when he kept swerving in and out of lanes and terrorizing the few people out. She was ready to call back up, but before she could, the driver screeched to a halt a few blocks up where the bridge was and got out.
She felt her heart plunge when instead of the staggering walk and slurred words, the man calmly stepped out and had tears running down his face.
The make shift cloth noose being dragged besides him. With panic gripping her nerves, she speeds up and stopped a good few feet away.
Police were always told to keep distance in high stake situations. In fact, she had a few instances where the people she was called in for were in distress. She had always called for backup and had usually managed to stop them from doing what they originally wanted to.
But this guy, he wasn't full on sobbing. He wasn't screaming or having snot and tears run down his face.
He was terrifyingly calm.
Calm as he reached the edge of the bridge and tied the make shift rope.
Dove panicked.
She quickly called an EMT and back up before running full force towards the stranger.
She didn't play hero often, but the melancholy calmness that caused him to stare out to the bridge really made her heart ache.
Dove tackled him just as he started to climb up the edge of the bridge. He didn't resist. Rather, he seemed too numb to even try and fight her off of him.
Instead, his mind seemed to slowly process everything happening. Like a faulty service finally connecting. His glassy, dark brown eyes seemed to lose their spaced-out hue and he looked around confused. She honestly expected him to lash out, to try and push her off this time. But instead, his eyes became watery and had his arms wrap around her.
He began to cry, tears shedding and snot that she suspected but also the melancholy tone of voice trying to break though the tears. Then he just buried his face in her shoulder and uttered the words Dove hadn't expected.
"My fiancé she's not coming back home from war."
A/N: Soooooo, this is the latest thing I'm keeping as a two-shot back to back.
A few things; I know Rashel and Quinn sound pretty OC and stuff, but the reason for this is obvious since you know, Dove is around and all that.
Secondly, don't quote me on any of the info about tours and police and stuff. I mostly got what I could off Google and from Law and Order: SVU so I tried being really vague about it.
But yeah, it's pretty OC and I know I put Dove there, but it's not over for Rashel and Quinn exactly. So, yay!
Anyways, guys thanks so much for the reviews! I love and appreciate you!
