It's one thing when Detective Lassiter is late to work. It's another when the Chief is.
Lassiter only comes late when he's chasing a perp early in the morning, before his shift starts. It's happened once or twice, but he's always strictly on time. The Chief is never late, ever, because even though she has a young daughter to take care of, she doesn't have to chase down criminals or shoot people anymore. At least, not always.
Juliet had called her partner five times that day. He was an hour late, and if he had been chasing a criminal, she would've been by his side. But she wasn't, and that's what was worrying her. The Chief wasn't there either, but no one looked in the Chief's office, anyway. She intimidated them all too much, except for her two top detectives.
And if the two senior employees of the department weren't there, who would run the department?
They set the mood for the entire day, they gave out all the orders, they did practically everything. Juliet had already gotten several of Lassiter's jobs for the day, because when they weren't around, everyone turned to the head detective's partner. Her phone was constantly ringing, yet none of the calls were from her partner. She could almost hear him telling her excitedly about catching the drug lord they'd been tracking for a month now, or a notorious thief that always danced a tantalizing distance from his fingertips.
What she didn't expect was exactly what happened.
The doors flung open, slamming into the walls with a bang.
"She's gone!" Detective Lassiter shouted, stumbling into the station and gasping like a dying fish. "They've got her, and I couldn't stop them."
All heads turned toward him, but only Juliet acted. She shot up, running to her partner's side as he fell to his knees. There was blood, so much blood, oozing from a wound on the side of his head, and he had several bruises on his face. His shirt was ripped, his tie missing, and his eyes - oh, God, his eyes. There was a certain despair, a certain sense of loss in them that Juliet hoped she'd never see again.
"They've got who, Carlton?" she asked softly, helping him to his feet. "Someone get the first aid kit!" she barked to the rest of the precinct, with the hostility of a mother bear protecting her cub. The whole department, which had come to a halt, suddenly started bustling. Juliet cupped her partner's face in her hands, looking at the gash.
"Th-The Chief," Lassiter managed. He was shaking, she realized. "A van just came up and grabbed her. I was driving by, and I-I tried to stop it." She could hardly hear his voice now. McNab quickly brought the kit to Juliet, who flung it open and immediately grabbed the gauze.
"They had a pipe in the van," he whimpered, wincing as she started to disinfect the wound. "I couldn't reach for my gun, I was trying to get the Chief. Th-They got me pretty badly, but didn't bring out the pipe until I had a firm grip on Iris."
"Iris?" Juliet gasped, momentarily stopping in her dabbing of disinfectant. "They have Iris?"
"Yeah." Lassiter swallowed hard. "She was in the car with the Chief."
"Damnit," Juliet growled. She finished dressing his wound. "Okay Carlton," she started, reverting back to a soft voice, "your wound isn't as bad as it looks. Head wounds just bleed a lot. You can rest soon, but I need you to tell me what the van or the kidnappers looked like."
For a second, Lassiter just looked at her. Juliet decided that his eyes looked empty - they certainly had a puppy-dog feel to it, but it wasn't sad. It was just...hollow. Gone. Like they'd never express emotion again.
"Alright," he finally agreed, attempting to stand up straight. He'd been leaning against reception. "We have to catch these sonuvabitches before anything worse can happen to th' Chief 'n Iris." He took a step forward, starting to drawing his Glock.
"Carlton," Juliet said firmly, putting a hand on his. "You're in no condition to chase down criminals, let alone drive. You probably have a concussion."
He stared at her, his usually sharp mind slowed to a sluggish pace. Juliet sighed, steering him back to reception.
"McNab!" Juliet shouted, with an unusual roughness. The large junior detective ran up, looking eager.
"Yeah Juliet?"
"I'm taking him to the hospital," she explained, patting Lassiter on the shoulder. "I'll get the details on the van, and you'll put out a warning and try to find the bastard that kidnapped the Chief and her daughter. Got it?"
"Yes, ma'am!" McNab agreed enthusiastically. As Juliet helped walk Lassiter to her car, he grinned stupidly at her.
"Y'know, I kinda like bossy Juliet."
Juliet turned her head away from him, grinning. Maybe Lassiter with a concussion wouldn't be too bad during the car ride.
a/n; Lotsa things going on with this chapter.
Juliet is actually swearing more often in this, because I imagine that if Lassie can't fill the 'bad cop' position of their good cop-bad cop relationship, then she steps in for him.
If you didn't already know, Iris is the Chief's daughter. We saw her give birth.
And I'm sorry if any of this information is incorrect. Most of my knowledge on head wounds and concussions (and medicine in general) comes from my history teacher last year, The Office, and Wikipedia. Sorry 'bout that.
Next chapter: "I was the only one with you, I should've been shot instead."