Chapter 7

We've been at it for about an hour. Tink is a couple of blocks ahead of me, in a poorly iluminated side street. I can barely see her, and that just because she is wearing a light yellow minidress. She is walking a little erratically, in between the sidewalk and the street. I sense, or hear, a noise behind me, and when I turn around I see Brooke doing a fast jog along a cross street. I break cover and start running after her. "Bait, I just spotted Brooke jogging north on Rose. I'm going after her."

"I'm cutting across to try to intercept her at the corner of Maple." That's a couple of blocks north from where we are. I turn the corner about ten seconds after I lost sight of Brooke, but I can't see her. "I'm looking north along Rose and I lost visual."

"Just look for her, and be careful. I'll be coming from the North in about a minute."

I look around, she might have seen me coming and hid behind a tree or a bush. There was no time for her to reach the other corner. I walk slowly and strain my ears, and I hear some slight shuffling from behind a hedge I've just passed. "I hear something, fifty yards past the corner, behind a hedge in front of number 227."

"On my way."

I go around the hedge, and there they are. Brooke struggling and a big man wearing dark clothes and a ski mask kneeling on top of her, one hand one her mouth and another ripping her clothes.

"I have visual. Target attacking Brooke. Hurry up bait. I'm doing something."

"Be careful. E.T.A. Thirty seconds."

I speak loud. "Hey!" He turns around and growls. He begins to get up, ready to bolt, but as he is getting up Brooke grabs his mask and pulls it, giving me a clear view of the fucker's face. There was no wayI was letting him escape, but that changes the game. There is enough light to see the jowl, the deep set eyes and the receding hairline. He realizes I made him, and decides to come after me. He pulls a double edged, black blade knife from somewhere and comes straight at me.

"He's got a knife, and he's coming at me."

"Lucas?"

"Stay down, Brooke."

I drop into a crouch, hoping that looking dangerous will give him enough pause to either let Tink arrive or give me a chance to go for my gun. No such luck. The fucker comes straight at me, bringing the knife on a wide downwards arc. I dodge aside, and try to give him a straight kick on the side of the knee. As he staggers after missing his strike, and my kick connects with his thigh, getting nothing more than a grunt.

He comes at me again, this time grabbing my shoulder with his left hand, bringing the knife in an upwards arc, aiming at my abdomen. I twist around to his left side, away from the knife and grab his left hand with both of mine. I twist his arm and, with all I've got, I bring his elbow straight down on my shoulder, with a loud crack, and a loud scream. I let go of his arm and step forward, just in time to avoid a sidewipe with the knife. We face off again, his eyes lost in a fog of pain and rage. He is hurt, but he is not done. I finally find the time to grab the taser out of my jacket pocket, and smile at him. His rage turns into fear. He is still hesitating when Tink's sharp voice comes out of the darkness. "All right, motherfucker. Drop the knife or take one between the eyes." She is walking and pointing her little gun at him, from about thirty yards away. He looks at Tink and figures she is for real, dropping the knife. I kick it to the hedge and step back, grabbing my gun from the ankle holster.

"Outstanding, Pan! Just cover him." I point the gun at him while she does a quick search of his person. She finds a reefer, gum and keys, but no other weapon, and no id either. She fishes a ziptie out of her clutch, zips his ankles together and leaves him lying belly down, moaning softly to himself. She speaks softly in his ear. "Don't move, motherfucker, or I'll break the other arm."

I'm still holding the gun loosely in his direction when I feel Brooke coming from behind me, grabbing my waist and bringing her face to my chest. "Luke?" I look at Tink, and she signals all clear. I put the pistol in my pocket and wrap both my arms around Brooke. "It's ok now, pretty girl. Everything is going to be fine."

"But, Luke?"

"I'll answer all your questions later, sweetheart. Just hold on." As Tink calls the police I take a few steps away from our prisioner with Brooke, return the pistol to the ankle holster and wrap my jacket around her, Sitting on the ground with Brooke wrapped on my arms, crying into my chest. I keep saying "It's ok Brooke, everything is fine now."

The police arrives, than the Sheriff, and a couple of ambulances. They cordon off the area of the attack and the fight, and take our perp away. The paramedic is examining Brooke when the Sheriff approaches, leading Tink and I to the side. "So, kids, just the highlights."

"I'm Madeleleine Ward and this is Lucas Scott. We are freshmen at Clarksson..."

"I know who you are, girl. I spent an hour with your father on the phone when you came to live here. I was supposed to keep an eye on you, but with the fallout from that animal's spree, that fell through the cracks. From your father's stories, I should have known you'd be up to something."

"We've been running a sting for the rapist using me as bait, for about a month. Luke here is my backup."

"So what happened?"

"The vic is Brooke Davis, eighteen, an old friend of Luke and his family. She is visiting from New York for the weekend. She decided to take a jog in the middle of the night, and, as luck may have it, Luke here saw her run by during our sweep. He followed her and found the rapist attacking her. The vic took his mask as he was ready to bolt, and Luke got a good look at him. The perp decided to attack Luke with a knife. A fight followed, where Luke managed to break the perp's left arm at the elbow. I arrived as the perp was about to attack Luke again, and made him surrender at gunpoint. We called the police."

"I know your capabilities. What kind of training Lucas have?"

"One month of self-defence and firearms with me. He's been in hairy situations before and kept his cool. He is also extremely bright, resourceful and a gifted athlete. I mean, you can see by the results here I had good reason to trust him."

"You both have concealed carry permits?"

"Yes."

"This was foolish, guys, but I the truth is that you two just got my nuts out of the fire. The fellow you caught is Jason Fox, and he was in our suspect list, and under surveillance. He just gave us the slip tonight, and god knows how many girls beyond your friend Brooke you actually saved. We had indications that he was about to move away, and we had nothing to hold him. I actually called the Feds on Friday, and I was about to hand them the case. Outstanding job guys, specially you, Lucas. I'll need a full statement from you two, but, for now, thank you. My report you give you two full credit for the collar. That was part of the point, wasn't it? Early entrance at Quantico?" Tink just nods. "Come to the office Monday morning for your statement. We'll will take Ms. Davis to the hospital for a full exam. It seems that all she has are a few bruises, but the full exam is needed to complement her statement. Just take her home after the hospital releases her. We'll talk to her tomorrow afternoon.."

"You going to call my father?"

"Not if you do."

"Ok."

"Pan."

"Tink."

"I'm so fucking proud of you. I almost died when I realized what you were up against."

"I'm just glad we were able to save Brooke. And thank you for the training."

"Keeping your head with half-assed training having your life and Brooke's on the line. Even now, you're talking to me like it was all in a day's job."

"Oh, I know I'm due a breakdown. I'm just holding it in for Brooke."

"You were born to do this, Pan.I now get the rules againt getting romantically involved with a partner. I was pretty much a basket case when I got here. If he had hurt you, I would have just shot him."

I smile at her. "Somehow, I doubt that."

"I think they are ready to move Brooke to the hospital. Stay with her. I'll go home, get the car, and meet you there, ok?"

"That's fine. See you in a bit." She leaves with a quick kiss.

Brooke was just sitting outside the ambulance. "Did you hear all that?"

"And the talk with the Sheriff too. God, Broody, I haven't even begun to process this. You know that having you coming out and saving me has been a fantasy of mine forever. I was actually thinking of you while that guy was attacking me. Having you saving me, fighting that guy with your bare hands like a goddamn action hero. She starts crying. You're no hero, Broody. You're just a geek with a killer body and a heart condition. She punches me slightly with her fists in the chest. I thought we were both dead, you hear me, dead. It was like psycho Derek all over again. What the fuck were you and Tink doing? Since when you go around armed?"

"It's a long story, Brooke. First things first. All of us, Nate, Hales Tink and I owe you a huge apology."

"Why?"

"We knew about the rapist. He's been attacking young women in town for six months. You would have been the fourth victim, that we know about. We should have warned you about going out alone at night. It just didn't occur to any of us. I'm very, very sorry."

"It's ok, Broody. No harm done. Just another fucked up source of nightmares."

"You should see a therapist. I've been seeing one for a few weeks now. Can't say that it's helping, but it might."

The Paramedics close the door to the ambulance and start on our way to the hospital. After we get there, the staff gets us into a waiting room, and informs us it will be a while until they get to us.

Brooke gets back to out interrupted conversation. "Why the therapist, Broody?"

"Coping with loss. Keith, basketball, you, any possibility of ever having a relationship with Dan. I'm just beginning to pull myself back together. Tink convinced me to do it."

She places a hand on my chest. "You didn't really lose me."

"You might have been the worst loss, Brooke. I was done. You were the one for me. I saw myself married to you, raising a family with you. You were my forever. I believed it was the same for you. You took it all away, and until a month ago, I couldn't even understand why. I made my way back to basketball, but you left no hope of ever finding my way back to you."

"I'm sorry, Luke. But you have Tink now. She is really good to you."

"I know. I am in love with Tink. But she is not my future."

"Why?"

"She has plans for her future that do not include a husband and children. She made it very clear when we started. She would be my Tinkerbell, but if I wanted forever, I would need to find my Wendy."

"She might change her mind."

"I've only known her for a month, but I wouldn't count on that. As things stand, the day she gets hired by the FBI we are done. And she is like you. If she sets her sights on something, she will get it. I've known it from the start, Brooke. I love her, but I hold her lightly."

"She wants us back together. That's why she calls me Wendy."

"That's right."

"What about you? Would you want to get back together?"

I look into her eyes, for the first time in seven months. I can see the fear, but I see something I never expected to see. I see hope. "Yes, I would. In a second. There is a condition, though. I can quit my romantic involvement with Tink. But I can never shut her out of my life."

"That's fine. I know how loyal you are. I wouldn't expect anything different."

"Does this mean..."

"Not now, Broody. You are in good hands, and we are not in a hurry. I'll make you a promise. Until I tell you different, I will not get involved with anyone else. I need to process this. I also need to talk with Tink. But don't count me out of your life yet."

Brooke snuggles up against me as I keep an arm around her. A few minutes later, Tink comes in, smiles at us, and snuggles up on the other side. Even with the difficult night we had, there's something right with the universe, if I can have both these wonderful women in my arms at the same time.

After a while, Brooke gets up and pulls a wheelchair, sitting in front of us. "I have two questions for the both of you. First, what were you doing tonight? And second, what happened to my Broody, that suddenly he became an action hero?"

"Let me say something about the second. Your Broody has always been an action hero. Shame on you for not noticing it." She counts it on her fingers. "He went into a burning building to save his father. He went into a school locked during a gun incident to save Peyton. He saved Peyton from psycho Derek. He investigated and solved Keith's murder by himself, and saved his mother and his sister from falling into the murderer's clutches. I won't even count the Duke dorm incident. Fighting an armed assailant to save you tonight is just another example. Pan has consistently displayed bravery and a cool head under dangerous circumstances consistent with a war hero. Sure, I gave him a few self defense classes and trained him to use a firearm. But the hero's heart and head, that he was born with. I don't like Peyton, but she has this merit. She always recognized that in him."

Brooke bends her head down, visibly ashamed. "I never really looked at the whole picture. I know this instinctively. There is no place I feel safer than in his arms. I'm sorry."

"Don't be, pretty girl. Tink has a rather unique way of looking at things."

"The answer to your first question is that we have been hunting your assailant, using me as bait."

"That sounds dangerous."

"It's less than you might think. If he had attacked me, odds are overwhelming that I could overpower him without getting hurt. And Pan here was my backup, in case something went wrong."

"But why do it?"

"Two reasons. One, to take a piece of garbage out of the street. Second, I want to get into the early training FBI program, and a collar like this one helps."

"I had a third reason. I couldn't stop her from doing it, and she was safer with backup, even poorly trained."

"Are you done now?"

"With the night excursions, yes. I would like to continue training with self-defense and firearms."

"Why?"

"Firearms because I'm good at it, and I enjoy doing "bang". It's a boy thing. Self-defense, well, I like Tink beating the crap out of me. Call me a masochist, if you want."

At seven in the morning, I got a frantic call from Haley. "Luke, do you know where Brooke is? She is not in the room, and we don't know what happened."

"Calm down, sis. Brooke is with us. She is perfectly fine. We have a long story to tell you guys, but we haven't slept a wink tonight. We have a little something to celebrate tonight, so I'm inviting everybody to have dinner at Chili's on me. Tonight at seven?"

"That's fine, bil. We'll meet you there. Bye."

We got back home a little while later. Brooke took first dibs in the shower, and got one of my t-shirts and boxers as pj's. Tink and I went second, and put on pj's as well. I took the opportunity to briefly report on the new status of things between Brooke and I. After our shower, we quickly found that me, Brooke and then Tink made an effective spooning arrangement, and proceeded to recover some of our lost sleep.

We woke up with the alarm at one, in a glorious three-way tangle. Tink and I changed and we drove to the Scotts for a toothbrush and change for Brooke. Haley looked up from the book she was reading as we walked in. "Hey guys, that looks an awful lot like a walk of shame. Brooke Davis, did you sleep with these two?"

Brooke gives Haley one of her signature dimpled smiles. "Sure did, tutormom. Right between them too. It was wonderful." Tink giggled.

Before Haley could open her mouth I added. "We slept, sis, that's all. A lot has happened since last night, but we don't have the time to go into it. We have an appointment at the Sheriff's office at three, and we still want to eat something before that."

Brooke heads into my room to change, and Haley gives me a sharp look. "Something has changed."

"Yes. Nothing concrete. Let me just say that, last night, Brooke and I took a big step in the direction of staying in each other's lives."

"But what happened?"

"It's a long story. Wait for dinner, ok?"

We got to the police station, and we heard the Sheriff calling us from the back. "Come down here, guys." We got into his office and there were two people with him, and older man in modest worker clothes and a pretty woman in her late thirties, on a yellow a summer dress and sandals. These are Norman Byers and Melinda Roscoe. They are the father and the mother of the first and second victims of Mr. Fox. They wanted to meet personally the young people who captured Mr. Fox. Well, these are Lucas Scott, and Madeleine Ward. The brunnete is Brooke Davis, the young woman Lucas and Madeleine saved from becoming the fourth victim last night.

Mr. Byers spoke in both their names. "We would like to thank you on behalf of our daughters. They were having a hard time recovering, knowing that the animal who did it was still at large. Thank you."

"You're welcome Mr. Byers and Ms. Roscoe. Please transmit our sincerest desire that they can put this horrible experience behind them."

The Sheriff escorts the parents out and turns back to us. "Miss Davis, I understand you are going back to New York today."

"No sir, I changed my flight to Tuesday afternoon. I need to stay with my friends a few more days to recover from last night's experience."

"Very well. I'd like you to come tomorrow, say at ten, so that we can review your statement together." He picks up a little pile of forms from his desk. "For now, would you please fill these out, and include a full written account of last night's assault on your person?" You can use the table in the meeting room next door. You two, follow me."

He took us to his office, bid us to sit in a pair of chairs in front of his desk, and sat on his chair.

He stared at us for a few seconds before starting. "Very well, Mr. Scott, Miss Ward..."

"You may call us Lucas and Maddie, sir."

"Lucas and Maddie, I understand you both have part-time jobs, you work at Craig's Auto Shop, and you are a dispatcher for Campus security, is that right?" We nod.

"How much is Craig paying you, Lucas?"

"Fifteen an hour. He said it would go to twenty-five in a couple of months."

"I know how much Maddie makes at her job. Maddie, did you call your father?"

"Not yet, sir. I'll do it tonight."

"Yes, do it. Very well, I want to offer you two a job. Part-time deputy."

Tink and I exchange a glance. Tink is definitely interested, me, I'm not so sure.

"What do you have in mind, sir?"

"Well, this entire Department consist of two dozen deputies, four administrative assistants and myself. There is not enough investigative work to be done to justify having a full time detective, so, when investigation is needed, I usually do it myself, and I use my subordinates as assistants as I can. Well, this doesn't work terrible well, because not even one of them is actually suited for this kind of work. So, I'd be hiring the two of you as my junior detectives. At least, if I tell you to run a canvas, or examine a crime scene, or simply follow up some lead on the internet, I can count on you to spot anything important I might need to know. Well, the pay is twenty-five per year, plus benefits, for a twenty hour a week job. If there is no investigating, the two of you can just stay home and screw each other until you're blue in the face. If there is something to investigate, I expect you to put that ahead of your other obligations, except maybe coaching the Bulldogs, young man, and no my other deputies will be subordinate to you two, but use discretion. Most of them are more than twice your age, and might take exception at being ordered about by a kid. You get the use of the department's resources, gym and range, and I expect you two to do full firearms certification, study our procedure manual and, Maddie, I would like you to run an unarmed combat class twice a week at the gym. So, what do you say?"

Again I exchange a glance with Tink. She has no doubt, this is clearly a step towards her dreams. For me, it's an interesting new challenge, a bit more money, and, most important, an opportunity to be close to her. "We accept, sir. However, I think we are both supposed to give two-week notice."

"Leave that to me." He picks up two silver stars, and two pistols with their holsters and places them in front of us. "I'm antedating your hiring by three weeks. The sting operation you were running was quietly authorized by this office three weeks ago. Make sure your reports reflect that. Come back on Monday at eight. There are a large number of details to straighten out, but primarily, I need to introduce you to the troops."

"Do we use uniforms?"

"No. I'll have one uniform made for each one of you, but that's just for formal occasions. Slacks and button shirts for you and below the knee skirts for you. Our constituents are conservative folk. You'll get a lot of respect for catching Mr. Fox, which should compensate for the obvious disadvantage of your age, and the fact that the two of you are out-of-towners. At least Mr. Scott is from North Carolina, and a basketball hero to boot. A lot of people around here remember that three pointer at the buzzer during State's final last year."

We leave Sheriff's office.

"Pan, do you have any idea how much this will help with my FBI application in three years? Besides, this job is worth a semester's credit in the criminalistics major."

"Honestly, my head is still spinning. The last thing I would ever think of becoming is a cop. I'm thrilled to the bone with the idea of being your partner, though. Also, I think we are going to go back calling each other Luke and Maddie at work."

"Brooke."

"What? I'm busy. Damn form."

"We're cops now. By the powers of time travel, we were even cops last night. Detectives Scott and Ward, at your service."

Brooke lifts her head, takes in the stars and pistols, and starts laughing. So do we. It takes about five minutes before we manage to regain our proper professional composure. A couple of minutes later the Sheriff comes in and tosses a set of keys in the table. "The keys are for the station, lock when you leave, and for the marked SUV outside. Just use the siren at your hearts content, and get it out of your system." He closes the door behind him, and we go back laughing.

"Broody, will you give me a ride on your police car?"

"Can we make out on the back seat?"

"Making out on the back seat of a police car? Wow. It's almost worth getting back with you just for that. I guess you can do it with Tink, I mean, Detective Ward for now."

"It's not much her style. Tink is adventuresome in other ways."

"Hell, Brooke, just borrow my boyfriend, I don't mind. I'll drive and run the siren, so you guys can do it on the go, and with the whole town looking."

"Get out of here, you two. I need to finish these damn forms."

We finally get to Chili's about ten past seven, and Nate, Haley and Jamie are already inside. "Hi guys!"

He turns to me. "Did you guys steal a Sheriff's Department car?"

"That's part of the story. Let's begin from the beginning. Well, you know about the rapist."

"I heard he got caught last night," Haley says.

"Even before we started dating, Tink was running a sting operation, using herself as bait. She would walk around the most likely places, between the hours of one and three, Fridays and Saturdays, hoping the rapist would attack her."

"That's an awfully dangerous thing to do, Maddie."

"It's not as dangerous as you might think. The victims indicated the rapist did not use a firearm, and anything else, It was very likely I could handle."

"After we became an item, she had to tell me about it. I tried to dissuade her to do it, but it became clear she would continue, no matter what I thought. So I decided to help her."

"He became my backup. As I did my run, he would follow very discreetly, a couple of blocks back, ready to intervene if anything went wrong. To make him more effective, I begun training him in self defense and firearms. He is a pretty good student at both."

"Yesterday night, Brooke decided to go jogging at one in the morning. She crossed our path, and got attacked by the rapist."

Haley gets upset. "He raped you, Tigger?"

"No. Broody intervened. He interrupted the guy. He was going to run, but I grabbed his ski mask, and Broody got a good look at his face. The guy pulled a knife and tried to kill Luke. There was a fight, and after a few moves, Luke broke the guy's arm. Then Tink arrived and made him surrender at gunpoint. The police arrested the creep, and I spent most of the night at the hospital, so they could register my bruises."

"This afternoon we went to the Sheriff's office, to do Brooke's statement, and the Sheriff pulled us to his office and offered us a job as part-time deputies, acting as assistant detectives. We accepted."

"So now, Tink and I are cops! And we show them our stars."

Nate starts laughing, and pretty soon, we are all doing it again. "It's even better, little brother. All the other deputies have to follow our orders. We are not just cops. We are boss cops."

"He even used time-travel Not only we are cops, we were cops the past three weeks, so our operation was official."

"So, big brother, what are we celebrating after all? Your new job?"

"No. We're celebrating the arrest of Mr. Jason Fox, the Clarksson rapist." I raise my beer. "May he rot in jail for forever."

"Hear, hear."

Tink and I head home on our badass police car. "I need to call Daddy, Pan. I can't put it off any longer."

"What time is it in California?"

"It's a bit past five."

"Well, go ahead and call."

She calls, and at first they are just talking, she tells him the story and there are long silences from her side. She begins to sound upset, and by the time we get home, there is shouting and Tink is in tears. When we step into out living room, she hands me the phone. "Here. He wants to talk to you."

"Mr. Ward?"

"Lucas. I'm disappointed. You let my daughter use herself as bait playing vigilante against a dangerous criminal?"

"I'm sorry sir. I didn't let her do anything. I was against this plan, and I made my thoughts clear on the matter. However, my experience with Maddie is that I can't stop her from doing whatever she wants, anymore than I can stop the sunrise. So, I helped her, and tried to make her safer. I'm surprised you thought it could go any other way."

He sighs. "Yes, I know I couldn't stop her either. It just drives me crazy... Well, all right, I take it back. Thank you for watching her back. By the way, she told me how it went down. You did an extraordinary job, young man. Well done. Please, give her back the phone."

They talk some more, and Tink calms down. The phone call ends with her smiling and saying "I love you too, Daddy."

"He is coming here."

"When?"

"He said he would be here Wednesday, and that he would leave on Sunday."

"Do you know what is the agenda?"

"He wants to ride with us. He wants to talk to Sheriff, get a better idea of what we are supposed to do, and he wants to make sure you're a proper partner for me. That's my Dad. The fact that you're my boyfriend and effectively living with me wouldn't bring him here. But a law enforcement job and two rookies riding together? That he has to check out personally. By the way, he will try to tell us how to do our job. Just listen carefully. He's the best at what he does."

"I'm looking forward to meeting him. Should I move out?"

"Nah. Our co-habitation is no secret. We'll just stay at the Scotts for the duration."

We begin making out, and soon enough, we are in our bed, Tink straddling me as we look into each others eyes. The sex is as good as always, but something different has made its way between us.

"Were you thinking of her?"

"No Tink. It's the other way around. It's the possibility that, pretty soon, you will not be my girl anymore. I'm going to miss this."

"You will have her."

"I know, but I'll still miss us, just like I still miss being with her."

"I'll have you as my partner. I really like that, Pan." She smiles. "I will tell you this. When we are not together anymore, I'll bring other boys to my bed. I want you to be jealous. Visibly. Just to show me you still care."

"You can count on that. How will you show that you still care?"

"I'll show my pleasure with your jealousy. It will drive the boys crazy."

I'm reading a novel when the knock comes. I open the door. "Hi, Brooke."

She comes in, and looks into our bedroom, where Tink is lying down wearing one of my t-shirts. "You were expecting me."

"Yes."

"I hate being so predictable."

"You're not predictable. You're my Cheerie, and I know you."