Chapter 7: Faulty

" Oh. Come on!" A guy begs as Bex shoves him in the back of the cop car. " I didn't do anything wrong!"

" Yeah… That's what you thought until you didn't a license to drive this vehicle in the first place." She says as she slams the car door closed and the driver of the cop vehicle drives off to the precinct.

" Nice job Universe." Her commanding officer, Tesson, says.

He's a police officer who looks stern with his grey crew cut and sharp mustache, but he's actually nice when you get to know him. Although he's usually nice when he's trying to make a lesson out of things and that's the case with Bex since she is learning under him during her probation era.

" Thanks sir." She nods.

" A year of probation and you are about as good as me." He smiles. " Won't be long until you're an official cop for Beach City."

" I would like that very much." She says.

A radio goes off on Tesson's belt and he answers, " Yeah…. I see. Ok we'll be there." Before he turns to Bex. " We got another pitch. Those three women in strange colors and outfits like some circus rejects are fighting some strange animal again near the beach."

" Oh. No." She thinks. Only three people match that description to a tea.

" Better check out the situation." He says before they run down the boardwalk to address the issue at hand. In the hopes, it doesn't turn into another disaster.


" This is so cool that you are taking me to that Dogcopter sequel movie!" Steven jumps in happiness in the back seat of Bex's mustang.

" Hey easy on the seats little bro." She says as she turns at an intersection. She doesn't want Steven to pop another spring in the seats. She's already had more than enough spring pop outs for one car lifetime.

" I'm sorry. I'm just so excited!" He says in happiness.

" I know. You've been bothering me and Dad about it all week long." She smiles. " And I never have turn my back on a promise." Before thinking it to herself. " No matter how much I really don't want to see a missle fire from a dog's butt."

She and dad basically made an agreement on how they are going to tolerate some of Steven's likings that they don't necessarily like. Bex takes him to the movies. Dad watches the tv shows with him.

Unfortunately, Steven has grown up in the generation where a lot of the cartoons are not that great compare to the old fashion ones. One of them being about breakfast items that keeps crying all the time. Who watches that? Though he does like anime thanks to Bex.

She notices the gas gauge is low and she needs to fill up.

" Hey bud. We need to make a fill up."

" But the movie is in ten minutes!" He says out of worry.

" Don't worry. The theater is not that much farther. I promise it will take no more than five minutes." She promises as she pulls into the nearby gas station.

" Alright." He sighs.

She gets out of the car and folds the front seat down to get Steven out of the car, so they can both go into the station to pay for the gas and get the car filled up.

But as she is about to help Steven out of the car, she hears tires screech behind her and some people shouting in anger.

" Let's get him!" One of them says.

She turns around to try to make out the scene. It appears to be a big black SUV and a couple of young men she can't see that well because it was night time confronting another person. Who is walking on the sidewalk.

" Bex?" Steven says from the back seat. " What's going on?"

" Sh. Stay in the car buddy." She tells him as she squints her bit to see what's going on. It was then that she could clearly see that someone is being held at gunpoint.

" I'll give you the money tomorrow. Please! I beg you!." She hears a familiar voice from a distance. It was the guy she arrested early that afternoon for the missing license.

The person with the gun sees Bex and turns the gun out on her.

She gasps and immediately turns back and throws herself back into the open car door and shields a surprised Steven with her body right before they heard the gun go off.

Steven screams in fright as his sister ducks him and her behind the front seats. He hears glass shattering beside him which made it even more scary.

" Let's get out of here!" She hears the guy shouts before a car door slams close.

Finally tires screech away and everything became silence. Bex shakingly looks up to see that they only managed to break the windshield.

She feels his body shakes against hers as he starts crying. He's never been in a situation where he was scared for his life. Neither was Bex. While she was prepared for the situation in case it happened because of her police training, Steven never anticipated something like this and he shouldn't. He's only seven.

" It's ok. It's ok." Bex tells him soothingly as she runs her fingers through his curly hair in a gentle and calming way. " They're gone. They're gone."

Bex then hears people running behind them. She lifts her head and turns to see who was coming towards them. It's Fryman from his Boardwalk restaurant.

" Bex!" He shouts. " Are you two ok?!"

" Yeah. We're fine." She says. " Call 911. And my dad."

" Will do." He says as he pulls out his flip phone.

Bex lifts herself off of Steven to find him fearful and vulnerable. Which made her heart shatter and almost want to cry herself. She put her own brother in danger.

It wasn't long before the policemen at the precinct and an ambulance drive over to where they are and took her statement on the condition they don't take Steven's. At least not tonight. He was already traumatized more than enough tonight.

" What happened?" Tesson asks her.

" I think someone was trying to threaten the guy we previously arrested. Said something about money. They saw me and tried to shoot me. I did what I had to do to protect my brother. I shielded him with my body. They only got my windshield and put holes in my car." She says numbly as she holds her traumatized brother in her arms and has him on her lap.

" You were lucky enough not to get shot." Tesson says.

She sees the van pull up to a screeching halt and her dad runs out of it.

" Steven! Bex!" He shouts as he runs over.

" Dad!" Steven shouts as he gets off his sister's lap, runs over, and jumps into his arms as he starts bawling.

" It's ok buddy. You're alright. You're safe." Greg comforts the crying boy as he picks him up in his arms and carries him to where Bex is.

" I should never have stop at the gas station. I should have gone straight to the movie theater." She says as she tears up.

" Bex it wasn't your fault." Her dad says. " You didn't know this would happen. At least you and Steven didn't get yourselves hurt."

" He's right. You did everything right for someone in your situation." Tesson says as as he comes over to the family. " You guarded him with your body. That was bravery right there."

" But what if we…" She starts but Tesson says, " But it didn't happen that way. Look. Just go home and get some rest. Alright? Take the day off tomorrow as well."

All Bex could do is nod in response.


Bex didn't want to go back to her shared apartment that night and be confronted by her roomates tonight after what has happened. Plus she wanted to be near her brother after what has happened. Just to make sure he is ok.

She decided to stay at Steven's house that is almost completed. Just needs to have the last cosmetic adjustments. Even so, Steven won't really be living there until he's ten because of the fact he needs to be old enough to be left alone during periods when the gems are out.

She isn't literally staying in his house, but she decided to sleep in the hammock that is set up on the deck.

She looks up at the star covered sky and sighs calmly at the sight. It's a beautiful night despite the trauma.

" Am I doing the right thing?" She asks herself about her life choices when her heart nearly skips a beat when she hears someone come up the stairs. But she calms down when she sees her brother.

" Hey. You should be sleeping." She tells him.

" I can't." He says. " Can I stay with you?"

" Sure." She says as she moves a bit in the hammock to make room for him as he comes over and climbs on.

" The stars are pretty." He says looking up at the sky.

" They sure are." She agrees.

" Why did that man try to hurt us?" He asks. This isn't something Bex wants to talk about, but she knows she needs to talk about it.

She sighs and tries to find the right words, " Steven. I can only tell you that some people make very bad choices and don't realize the outcome and the mistakes.

" Oh." He says. " So he wasn't bad? Just made mistakes."

" I believe so. I don't believe that people are just bad. We all come from the same roots and the same beginnings. It's our choices that makes us who we are and whether or not that we have the strength to do it." She says.

" So we can't do much about the actions of others?" He asks.

" No. We can try to do something about it. In fact, the Crystal Gems did something about it. Without them, we would have not existed in the first place. Even with the odds against them, they fought for what they thought was right and kept going. And mom lead them to victory with her determination."

" Whoa." He says as Bex sees his starry eyes looking up at her. " What did she do?"

" That's another story for when you are older." She smiles mischievously.

" Ok." He sighs in disappointment. "So why do you want to be a cop if you want believe that people make mistakes?"

" I want to change their lives Steven. I know it's difficult to hear that from someone who is going to have to arrest people. But I want to help people turn their lives around instead of locking them up and throwing the key. I will have to do that in some cases, but not everyone deserves to be labeled as something wrong for the rest of their lives."

" Well. I think you'll make a great cop." He says in a hopeful manner before yawning sleepily. " The best one ever."

She chuckles as she lets her brother fall asleep. She looks up the sky again. She has a long way to go before she becomes the cop that she wants to be, but she knows that that shooting won't prevent her from seeing the good in people. As long as she is able to hold on to that hope. Even if he is drooling on her right now.


Please Review. See you later alligators.