Chapter 4 – You're In My Spot

Disclaimer:

Please look at the first chapter for disclaimer, or the previous. Also, I'm incredibly sorry for the long update BUT I have a good reason. I recently moved from England to California, so there was a lot of packing up, finishing business and saying good bye to friends and such like to do. Don't even get me started on the jetlag, holy fuck. Though I'm just saying – for anyone that might plan on going to California in the future, put on sun cream (or sun block, whatever) I got sunburnt on my first day, because you know, I'm a smart cookie.

So basically, that's the excuse I'm using for this late update. That and I'm fantastic at procrastinating. Please accept my apologies, and enjoy.

Oliver Shaw set the coffee machine on and then sagged against the counter side. He needed a moment. In fact, he needed lot of moments. Laurie Clark had just finished taking him through her past history and interactions with Donnelly and if he were truly honest he just wasn't ready for the amount of pain she so visibly felt, despite all his experience.

He sighed and dug his fingers into his forehead, smoothing out the creases as if to relieve the pressure. Momentarily he wondered just how many new crinkles he'd gained over the past few months. The road sure as hell hadn't been smooth for a while. Maybe he'd ask Celery for some kind of concoction. He shook his head, but that wasn't the point right now.

He wasn't lying when he'd offered Clark a coffee earlier, the percolating granules behind him illustrated the fact, but he needed a place to hide, to pick himself up so to speak. And right now the kitchen area was that place. A four walled, barely decorated refuge that gave him the space to just breathe.

It wasn't that he wasn't sympathetic for the woman, quite the opposite in fact; he'd been hurting alongside her all the way through their interview. Watching her tear herself up over Donnelly reminded him of just how painfully Jerry had been taken away.

He sighed again and looked back over at Laurie. For all her pain, she seemed to have managed to hold onto some semblance of reality, rather than immediately sinking into her grief. Compartmentalisation they called it; the ability to divert your attention from a painful reality to focus on more critical priorities.

The coffee machine beeped behind him, alerting him that it'd finished. As he reached for two mugs a soft knock came from the door way.

"Hey Oliver?" Chloe offered a quick smile. "Hi, uh, we've got a witness, a crack addict. We picked him up legging it away from the scene."

"You do?"

"Yeah, Nick's handling him right now."

Oliver stopped his hand mid-pour. "That's great. Which room?"

"Interrogation room C. Oh and hey Ollie? I uh," She cleared her throat, her eyes flickering from him to Laurie's form and back again, and stepped just inside the room. "Are you guys doing okay?"

"Yeah, yeah we just finished up. We- she's not doing so well though."

"God, yeah. I don't know what I would do if it were one of our guys." – "Did she say anything that could help us? About Donnelly?"

Oliver leant back against the counter again and crossed his arms. "Nothing seemed too out of norm for them until about a month ago. Apparently he started being secretive, doing things without telling her; keep her out of the loop, that sort of thing." He took a deep breath and exhaled through his nose, wishing to God that his next words weren't going to be true. "She thinks he might have become dirty."

That put a brief pause on Chloe. Her brow furrowed. "But he was wearing a wire, right? That means he's on our side. I mean, why bother wearing a wire if you're on their side?"

"I don't know, maybe he was playing both sides. It's all speculation at this point." His eyes settled over to the hunched figure out in the next room. "All we really have is that Clark hasn't seen him properly for a while and, well, it's a possible trail to follow."

Chloe followed his gaze and saw the woman take out her phone, look at the name on the screen for a few seconds and sag just a little more into herself before raising the cell to her ear. Slowly she rose; sombrely signalling to them that she'd take the call else-where.

In the fleeting second where Chloe saw her face she was taken back. She knew it had to hurt to lose a partner, more than hurt, devastate. But actually seeing the quiet agony on Clark's face, seeing the deep lines of sadness and watching those watery, pale, grey eyes close and sharp jaw clench sent aching pangs of compassionate misery through her heart. "…Is she going to be okay? Is there something we can do?"

He watched Clark shuffle away into the nearby empty Parade room as he answered. "Yeah, she will, in time you know? But," He pulled his arms a little tighter around himself. "Donnelly's wife called her whilst we were talking, and that-" He nodded to the Parade room. "That's probably her again. And I just…" He unfolded one arm to rub at his eyes and exhaled heavily. "I don't think I've ever heard someone cry so hard down the phone line, you know? I haven't even seen Jack in months and I was- I don't know how she managed to keep it together for her. She doesn't seem the time to just break down crying in public."

A hand gently squeezed his arm just above the elbow and he looked up to see Chloe's sympathetic face. "Well, if she needs anything, we'll be here for her. You know, with a hug or a shoulder to cry on, or whatever works for her."

"Yeah, yeah. We will." He cleared his throat and turned back to the coffee machine, tapping out a quick rhythm on the counter top with his knuckles. "Hey, want some coffee?"

Chloe's phone vibrated and she pulled it out as she answered. "Yes please- Hey Dov! What's up? - What, are you serious? - Oh God, how many? - Okay, yeah, yeah. I'll pass that on to Oliver. See you later. Bye!"

Chloe smiled down at her phone for a moment but then become serious again. "Okay, so that was Dov. He says that they've found more dead bodies around the warehouse and the surrounding areas. They're still counting them up though."

Oliver ran a hand through his balding hair. "Shit. These guys mean business then, huh." He looked back at the coffee machine and then towards the Parade room. He took a step towards the door before twisting round to address Chloe again. "Sorry Price, you're on coffee duty then. Can you bring two for us? I need to interview this new guy."

"Oh, yeah. Sure."

He nodded is thanks and exchanged a quick smile with her before striding away, meeting Clark just outside who'd just finished with her call and was staring morosely at it.

"Hey, you okay?"

She smiled wanly but it didn't quite reach her red tinged eyes. Her voice was a quiet, as if talking normally might be too jarring "Yeah, I uh… That was Ellie again. She's not taking his death so well either."

He nodded because he knew what it was like. He really did. He lowered his voice to match hers. "Hey, you know what? I hear hugs are a great way to deal with something like this." Then he opened his arms a beckoned with his hands. "Come on, you'll feel better."

"I don't really… do that kind of thing."

"You know, you don't have to be strong all the time. It's okay to need someone else for once." A few seconds passed and she debated his words but then she moved forward and into his embrace, for forehead dropping onto his shoulder. His arms immediately drew her in and rubbed soft circles on her back. Short, dark locks fell forward from behind her ear, easily curtaining around her face, helping, if but for a short moment to, for her to hide from the world.

She didn't return his hug, letting her hands to just drop down to the floor, but just leaned against him which didn't bother him in the slightest; sometimes people just needed to take comfort rather than give it, even if it was from a friendly colleague acquaintance.

Seconds later she pulled away and cleared her throat self-consciously. "Thanks, I didn't know I needed that."

"Don't mention it." He smiled momentarily but the sombre atmosphere had already returned. It stilled the conversation. "I'm really so sorry."

She sighed heavily. "Yeah. Me too." She turned away for a second, before immediately turning back again. "Hey, can you tell Frank I'm sorry? I didn't really handle myself back there, the crime scene I mean. I know it's not his fault."

"He knows that. But yeah, I'll tell him." She nodded in acceptance but didn't say anything.

"Hey." Her eyes flickered back up to him. "You know what else is great way of dealing with this?"

She eyed him with a sort of despondent wariness but the corner of her mouth tipped up ever so slightly. "You're not going to hug me again are you?"

He ignored that. "Talking to witnesses. That's what. Come on, Price and Collin's brought one in. Wanna come?"

Her eyes perked up but her shoulders stayed drooped as if she didn't quite believe him. "We have a witness, so soon?"

"Uh huh. I'm assuming you want in?"

"Yeah, please."

"Alright then. This way."

Marie Sanders was a month away from retirement.

She was a mild lady, middle aged by most standards with grey hair just becoming visible in a few wisps of her roots and had deep set laugh lines around her eyes and mouth. She had the kind of face where there were no hard jaw lines, sharp noses or piercing eyes, just lightly round softness and sincerity where aging was just starting to become visible. It was a kind of face where a person might just unconsciously associate it with the nice grandma who always had cookies to give away, accept younger.

She sighed reached inside the draw at the front desk and took out an apple, the last snack she'd brought with her today, and placed it on her desk. Usually her snack store lasted until at least 3pm, but today was a slow day, and slow days called for copious eating to try and at least elevate some of the tediousness of riding the front desk. So far there'd been only two people to sign in and lock up; a drunk and disorderly man who was to sleep off his inebriation before anything else, and a crack addicted witness brought in by Officers Price and Collins. It was a very slow day indeed.

Her attention caught immediately when the front door opened and a man strode in, his eyes scanning the area briefly before falling on her. He was of the average sort with short, brown hair covering his head and a light 'its-been-a-few-days' stubble across his face, dressed in some non-descript jeans and a t-shirt. If she thought about it, he almost looked like her son, in the right light anyway.

He met her short yet polite smile with a quick one of his own as she rose to greet him. He stuck a hand in his pocket and jabbed a thumb over his shoulder. His voice had an Australian husk. "Hey, sorry mate but there ain't no place to park me truck is there? I only need it for about an hour."

Her brow shot up in surprise but didn't comment on it. "Sure, out the door, turn left and up three blocks. There should be a car park around there." She sighed inwardly; it looked as if it was going to continue to be a long day.

"Right, thanks." He nodded and smiled his thanks before turning back out the door. Just as he reached the door he spun back on his heel, whipped out a handgun from the back of his trousers and fired three shots into her chest and neck.

She jerked backwards and fell back against the wall behind her with a thud. She slid down, smudging the blood splatter against the wall as she slumped lifelessly to the floor.

The man lowered his weapon before reaching into his pocket and sending a quick text. Not ten seconds later and no more than a score of men streamed through the precinct front doors wheeling large suit cases. These were rapidly opened and the semi-automatics inside were quickly distributed and the suitcases discarded to one side and kicked out of the way.

In the mean-time the man had taken Marie's own service weapon and tucked it into his back pocket before addressing the company before him. "You know what we're for. We're to be in and out in ten minutes, yah hear? No fucking about." He pointed his fingers at his men as he gave his orders. "You! Kill the power. You five, go to the roof and take out the antenna and junction box and then keep your eyes on the streets. We don't need any fucking surprises." They ran to do their tasks as he spoke.

"You! Set up a phone channel and then block it. And you two, you're with me." The two aforementioned men nodded and moved to stand by him and the third ran ahead to set up the link. "The rest of you split up and cover the exits. No one gets in and no one gets out. Now move!"

Immediately the gunmen siphoned off into their groups and moved off closely followed by the man in charge only to be pulled by a voice calling his name. "Hey, Rhys. What about her?"

Rhys looked down at the woman he'd shot and then roughly kicked her back under the desk, making sure all her limbs were out of sight. "Done. And don't fucking call my name here you fuckwit."

I don't like this chapter and I'm not sure I've got all the characters actually in character, but alas, without a beta this is the best I can do. If you feel something needs changing, do please tell me.

I'm sorry for the lack of Golly, but I couldn't think of a good enough reason for them to randomly pop up and this chapter was actually needed to move on with the plot.

Again, please look at the previous chapter for disclaimer/ why I might be borrow plot points from a different show.

P.S – I have absolutely no idea how the precinct is laid out so bear with me on that.

Also, Kudos to the guest who reviewed and kicked my arse into action. Thank you, seriously.