Keats ran her fingers along her cheek, wincing in the mirror. Ryan was getting sick of her. It was obvious.
She heard Ryan enter the apartment and sighed to herself. It was only a matter of time before he admitted that he couldn't handle a crazy klutz like her.
He stood behind her, smiling at her reflection.
"Can I ask you a question?" He said, taking hold of her left hand. Keats turned and felt her heart quicken its pace.
"I want you to know that I'm being very serious." He continued, getting down on one knee in front of Keats. She bit her lip nervously.
"Keats Juniper Remington, will you-" Ryan's cell phone rang before he could finish his sentence. He gave an annoyed groan and flipped it open.
"Wolfe here…Delveccio? You're positive about that…Sure, we'll be right over." Ryan snapped his phone closed. He gave Keats an apologetic glance and stood up.
"Will there be a shootout at Twelve Oaks, General Wolfe?" Keats laughed, trying to show Ryan that she wasn't the least bit angry. As a matter of fact, she was more relieved than anything else.
"We need to head over to Delveccio's place. Now." He said, taking her by the hand.
Ryan approached the house with his gun ready at his side. Keats followed him slowly, her mind in a thousand places at once.
Keats went straight for the secret passage, and Ryan stood close by, making sure the area was safe. They walked down the steps with their eyes peeled, expecting Delveccio to appear.
The basement was completely empty.
"False alarm?" Keats said, breaking the stillness and quiet. She glanced at Ryan.
"You wish." A voice called out from the corner. Keats turned and faced Tony Delveccio, apparently exhausted and mentally drained.
"My sister…I loved my sister. I'd never kill my sister…" He wailed.
"Tony, listen to me…I need you to tell me the truth. She asked you to help her, didn't she?" Keats said, putting a hand on Delveccio's shoulder.
Tony said nothing. He wiped his eyes, blinking at Keats with a melancholy expression on his face.
"She asked you to do this, right? And you both planned on framing Jimmy Grayson in order to get back at him, right?" Keats murmured comfortingly.
"He ruined my sister. And he dumped her like week-old trash!" Tony said, tears flowing freely down his face. Ryan stood in awe of Keats.
"And that was the only way you could get her to use the poison, right? She knew how painful it would be…" Keats said. Tony nodded.
"We had a goodbye dinner. I made a toast with the special champagne…"
"Tony…it's okay. You were only doing what she asked you to do." Keats said, giving Ryan a knowing look. He nodded and called for backup.
"But I'll be thrown in prison." Tony whimpered. Keats hugged him gently.
"Tony, the police can help you." Keats said. She continued to coax him and when the police arrived, they took him into their custody and Keats felt saddened. She almost wished it had been Jimmy in Tony's place.
Keats was beginning to discover that being right wasn't always a good thing.
"You're…amazing, Keats." Ryan said, watching the squad car take away Tony Delveccio.
"Listen, about what you were saying earlier…I sincerely hope you were not going to propose to me in the bathroom. I mean, come on, Wolfe. You can be more romantic than that…" Keats said with a smug grin.
"Fine, then. I just won't ask you." Ryan said, turning away from her. He was laughing on the inside, waiting for her to squeal and protest. He was not disappointed.
"Ryan! You evil little twerp…ugh. I wouldn't marry you if you paid me!" Keats said to his retreating back. Ryan whirled around and held her chin, making sure she was looking into his eyes.
"Marry me, Keats. I'm not asking." Ryan said.
"Oh, so you're telling me to marry you? I'm not even your wife and you're already giving me orders?" Keats ranted. Ryan held his thumb over her lips.
"You're ruining the moment, Keats. Shut up and kiss me." He murmured. She obliged, looping her arms around his neck. She broke away soon after with a wicked little smile on her face.
"But don't think you can boss me around, Wolfe." She said.
"Are you kidding? That's the main reason…" He joked. He wrapped his arms around her and remembered the fateful day she stumbled into his life as a newbie intern. It had been a hell of a year.
Ryan led Keats into his hummer and glanced over as Detective Jake Berkeley emerged from his Escalade.
"Keats…hold on a second. I'll be right back." He said.
He walked over to Berkeley and stood glowering at him. He held his arms across his chest and waited for Jake to speak.
"This blackmail thing…it's not going to work." Ryan said. He had grown tired of waiting for Berkeley to explain.
"Why not?"
"Because I say it's not." Ryan snapped. He was resisting the urge to slam him up against the hood of his vehicle.
"Oh, I guess you heard about the little smooch, huh?" Jake said in his smarmy way. Ryan tightened his fist.
"Yeah, I did."
"Sorry I couldn't do more."
Ryan grabbed Berkeley's shirt and held him still while delivering a powerful uppercut that nearly knocked Jake unconscious. Keats hopped out of the hummer and ran over to Ryan, trying to hold him back.
"Ryan, don't make things worse." She said. Ryan sighed, rubbing his throbbing fist.
"You're gonna be really sorry you did that, Wolfe." Jake said, lying on the ground. He wiped his bloody nose with the back of his hand.
"Actually, Keats is the one who's going to pay." He said softly.
"What?" Keats asked, alarmed. She didn't understand what that could mean.
"Before you can graduate, I'm going to recommend that you go through two weeks of final training at Miami Dade Officer Training Camp. And believe me, Keats, it's grueling, hard work."
"Training Camp?" Keats cried.
Keats was wearing navy blue sweatpants and a crisp white shirt. She stood in a long row of other officers and peered around them curiously.
All of these people are pretty ripped. Compared to them, I'm really out of shape.
"Remington! Back in formation." Capt. Erickson shouted. He was the overseer, and was Jake Berkeley's personal champion.
"Listen up! First things first. We're going to test everyone's physical aptitude. How far can you go? I plan to find out." Erickson barked.
Keats cringed as she felt beads of sweat fall down the sides of her face. She had just gone five minutes in a long-distance endurance run and everyone had passed her in the first lap.
"Remington! Pick up the pace or you'll never pass!" Erickson shouted, scribbling down a few things on a clipboard.
Keats groaned, mopping up her forehead.
"This is one really bad…no, wait. This is one really heinous day." Keats muttered. But she didn't expect any days of the next two weeks to be anything other than awful.
