Hello everyone. Sorry for the 9 month long wait. I had enormous writer's block. I hope you like this long-ish chapter.
There's a little more John/Emily in this one, so you better appreciate it!
Enjoy.
"So you're sure she didn't coerce you?" John asked the last store manager of the three he had to interview.
"Yes." The manager nodded his head.
"And she's not coercing you right now?" John asked.
"Of course not." The manager answered.
"All right. That should be it for now. Give us a call if you remember anything else." John ordered.
"Certainly."
John walked away, angrily huffing.
"Anything?" Emily asked.
"Not really." John replied.
"Let's go back to the precinct." Dorian offered.
"Does it smell weird to you in here?" Emily asked, wrinkling her nose.
"No." John shook his head, taking a deep breath of the air around him.
Emily looked forward again, still scrunching her nose in disgust. "It smells weird." She stated for a fact.
"It smells nice actually." John added as the three walked out of the store.
"The components of the air do include most elements contained in the scent of roses." Dorian came into the conversation.
"See?" John looked down at Emily, a little triumphantly. "I told you it smelled nice."
"It actually smells weird, but whatever." Emily huffed, waving a hand. 'It actually smelled weird in all three stores, but that's probably just a coincidence.' She thought to herself.
John smiled to himself as he slid into the driver's seat of the car, already starting the engine before Emily and Dorian could get in.
"Hopefully we can connect more dots back at the precinct." John mentioned as Emily buckled her seat belt.
"Well we did get a good rendition." Emily smiled slightly, holding up a screen with a detailed image of the woman they were looking for.
"When did you get that?" John asked.
"It's from the one woman working behind the counter at the second store." Emily replied, slipping the file back into her jacket. "Didn't you see me talking with her for, like, the whole time?" Emily asked.
"No." John slouched in his seat a little.
Emily rolled her eyes as Dorian stayed quiet in the back seat.
Back at the precinct, Emily ran the rendition through facial recognition through databases, security and traffic cameras, and previous case files. The license plate from the rental car was also running through the computers, waiting until a camera picked it up.
As the late morning turned into late afternoon, which turned into night time, the three detectives still had nothing on their female suspect and things weren't looking up. The entire precinct had already emptied.
Emily slumped down in her chair, letting her head hang backward, her hair suspended in mid-air. "I am exhausted." She announced.
"I could go for some Chinese." John agreed.
"I could go out and pick up an order for you two, if you wish." Dorian offered.
"Why, thank you, Dorian." Emily sat up in her seat.
"It is no problem." Dorian assured Emily.
"Then, I will have egg rolls, fried wontons, chow mein, and kung pao chicken." Emily rattled off different dishes on her fingers.
Dorian nodded, remembering it all, as he turned to John.
"Uh, I'll take the same as Emily." John finally managed.
"I will be back in 30 minutes." He spoke, already dialing in Emily and John's order.
Emily smiled as Dorian left. John gave him a short wave.
"Sometimes I think Chinese food just pumps through your veins." Emily thought out loud.
John laughed. "It probably does." He agreed with a smile.
"We better catch a break soon." Emily huffed.
Emily started spinning her chair around, thinking to herself now, for several quiet minutes. John moved closer to Emily.
"Hey." He spoke softly.
"Hey." Emily replied, looking at him.
"We'll get her." John promised.
Emily blew air out of her nose in response.
"Don't get discouraged." John pulled Emily's chair closer.
"I'm not discouraged." Emily replied, sitting up straighter, looking John in the eye.
"You kind of are." John argued.
Emily huffed angrily. "No, I'm not-" She was cut off.
John let his fingers tangle in Emily's hair as he pulled her closer with one hand. He kissed her, hard yet passionately, savoring their private moment. Emily held on to John's forearms as she relaxed and melted into the kiss. John's other hand rested on Emily's hip. As the kiss deepened, Emily and John moved as close together as they could.
The two stopped for breath, leaning their foreheads together and staring into each other's eyes.
"You're right," Emily spoke softly, "I was discouraged." She gently kissed John again.
John regrettably backed away. "Did you just say that I was right?" He asked, half-smiling.
Emily stared him down hard. "If you want me to say that again, it's not going to happen."
John shrugged lightly. "It was worth a try." He joked, dipping down for another kiss.
Emily laughed and met John halfway. She closed her eyes, relishing in the taste of John's lips. She wrapped her arms around John's neck.
John's hand moved under the edge of Emily's shirt.
Emily pushed John away, eyes wide. She immediately stood up.
"I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have-" John rose from his chair, trying to apologize, until Emily cut him off.
"No!" Emily's voice was louder than she intended. "I mean, no, it was fine. More than fine, but..." She paused. "I just had an epiphany." She explained.
John exhaled, but with still an uneasy look on his face.
Emily grabbed the collar of John's shirt with both hands and pulled him in for a hard, quick kiss, trying to get him to understand that he did nothing wrong.
John looked at Emily with big eyes when she let go of him. "Okay. Okay, okay." He assured himself.
"Okay?" Emily asked John.
"Okay." He replied.
"The epiphany." Emily remembered, sitting down in her chair to look at her computer. She pulled up video feeds of all the robberies. "Look." She pointed to all the workers on the screens.
"Should I be seeing something right now?" John asked.
"You don't see it?" Emily asked, surprised. John shook his head. "It's painfully obvious." She trailed off.
Footsteps could now be heard. "They're all male." Dorian spoke from behind the two detectives.
"Thank you!" Emily sighed, glad someone else got it.
Dorian smiled, holding up two large bags of Chinese takeout for Emily and John.
"So what does them all being men have to do with anything?" John asked after all the food was distributed. He stabbed chopsticks into one of his containers.
"Well, the only woman that was there was able to give a rendition, but none of men could." Emily explained, glancing towards the sketch that was still running through the computer.
"Are you saying that the woman robbing all these stores can somehow manipulate a man but not another woman?" John asked.
"With all the new controlling chemicals on the black market, it is very possible." Dorian chimed in.
"All right. I'm going to see if Rudy is still in his lab. You two can continue tracking our mystery woman." Emily ordered. She grabbed a few containers left of her takeout. "Call me if you find anything." She added.
"Will do." John replied as he sat down at his desk while Dorian's face glowed blue.
Emily arrived at Rudy's lab within a reasonable time.
"Rudy!" Emily called out, walking up to one of Rudy's work stations. She set down the small box of Chinese takeout.
"Emily!" Rudy called back in response, rushing up to her. He hugged her tightly.
"Oh!" Emily hugged him back, taken aback and surprised. "Is everything all right?"
Rudy finally let go, but still held on to Emily's hands. "I knew they rescued you from Hale, but they never let me see you. Then you rushed out on a case before I could say hello." Rudy explained, worry creeping into his voice.
"Well, I'm all right now." Emily smiled to reassure him.
Rudy let out a small, slow sigh, smiling back. "Can I help you with anything?" He offered.
"Yes." Emily took a deep breath. "The case I'm on now," she paused, "I think black markets chems are involved."
Rudy nodded. "How so?" He asked, starting to chew on a fingernail.
"This woman walks into stores, gets what she wants, and then walks out without trouble. However, Dorian and I think that she's using mind controlling chemicals or something, but ones that only affects men." Emily explained.
Rudy nodded, thinking.
"And," Emily quickly added, "it smelled weird at all the stores, but John didn't think so."
"What did it smell like to you?" Rudy asked.
Emily wrinkled her nose, trying to remember. "Weird. Gross. Maybe like something died?" She paused. "John said it smelled like roses."
Rudy nodded. "That should be enough for a search. I'll work late and come in early to find out what it is."
"Thank you, Rudy." Emily hugged Rudy quickly and gave him a small kiss on the cheek.
"No problem." Rudy smiled as Emily left. He smiled when he realized that Emily left the containers of Chinese food for him.
Emily called John while she drove back to the precinct. "Have you made any progress?"
"Not really." John sighed.
"That's all right." Emily replied. "Rudy's going to work late and run a search for the chemical." She added.
"Sounds like a plan." John agreed. "Now get Dorian and I out of here. The precinct is creeping me out without anyone here." John quickly spoke.
Emily laughed. "I'll step on it." She reassured him.
John could hear the car's engine accelerating through the phone.
"I'll be there in 5." Emily estimated.
"Thank you." John breathes a sigh of relief.
"No problem." Emily chuckled as she hung up.
Within half the time it would usually take to get there, Emily arrived at the precinct.
John smiled when he saw her. He grabbed his jacket as he turned off his computer. Dorian shut down the large swing-out monitor and followed John out.
John finally walked up to Emily and offered his arm. Emily gladly accepted, blushing slightly.
Dorian trailed behind, giving them their space.
John drove Emily home. Dorian sat in the back seat. John pulled up to Emily's house and parked.
Emily unbuckled her seatbelt. "Hey, Dorian." She turned around in her seat.
"Yes, Emily?" Dorian looked up at her.
"Would you like to go inside and check on your charging station?" She offered.
"Of course." His eyes glinted with happiness. He got out of the car and Emily watched him enter her house.
Emily turned to face John. "I just wanted to ask if you were okay with this." She started.
"Why wouldn't I be?" John replied with a question.
Emily laughed once and then tilted her head to one side. "Well with us dating and all, I guess it would be awkward if Dorian is living with me."
"No, it's fine." John insisted. "Trust me."
"You sure?" Emily asked to double-check.
"I'm sure." John smiled, kissing Emily before she could ask him again.
"Okay." Emily smiled when they separated.
"I'll pick you up tomorrow?" John offered.
Emily nodded. "Don't be late." She added as she got out of the car.
"Wouldn't dream of it." John lightly called after her.
Emily laughed as she walked into her house, taking one last look at John before closing the front door.
"Dorian?" Emily called out, tossing her keys onto the coffee table. "Is everything good?" She asked, walking up the stairs.
"Emily." Dorian spoke quietly.
"What is it?" Emily finally made her way to the spare bedroom where Dorian's charging station would be. "Is something wrong with it?" She grew concerned.
Dorian stood in the middle of the room, back to Emily. He was staring at his charging station.
"Dorian?" Emily tried to get him to talk.
"It's perfect." He breathed quietly.
Emily smiled.
"It's perfect." He said a little louder, rushing up to Emily and hugging her.
"I'm glad you like it." Emily smiled, hugging him back.
Dorian let go.
"Did you need anything else?" Emily asked.
"No, no." Dorian shook his head, still smiling. "Go to bed. I'll be fine." He insisted.
"Well all right." Emily nodded. "I'll just be across the hall." She reassured him.
Dorian tilted his head and Emily left the room.
Emily changed into her pajamas, sat in her rolling office chair, put her prosthetics in the closet to charge, rolled to her bed, got in, and fell asleep.
And she couldn't have slept better.
Please review with what you thought about this one! Favorite and follow if you haven't already.
Next chapter will probably be up today!