Audra slammed the taxi door shut, paid the driver, and walked up the steps to her apartment. She started to rummage through her bag for her keys but couldn't seem to find them.
"Shit," she swore, tearing through her purse and bag for her keys but turning up empty handed. 'I must have left them at the office, and the office should be locked by now,' she thought. She looked up at the windows in the building; all of them were black, meaning that nobody was awake. The last time she had tried to wake her landlord, she had been threatened with eviction. 'Jack,' she thought as she pulled out her address book. Flipping through it to the M's, she found Jack's address and called again for a cab.
Ten minutes after her call, another taxi pulled up to the curb; Audra hopped in and told the driver where to go.
'What are you doing?' she thought to herself as they started to pick up speed. 'You told yourself that you wouldn't get involved with him. Now you're going to his house? Are you mad?' She shook the thoughts away and pulled her hair up, waiting to arrive at Jack's house.
Jack was pulling on a black tee shirt when he heard the car pull up to the house. He peered out of his bedroom window and watched as somebody got out of a yellow taxi and walked up the steps. He walked downstairs and opened the door as the bell rang.
"Audra?" he asked, confused.
Audra smiled at him from the other side of the threshold. "Hi," she said.
"Er…come in," Jack said, opening the door and stepping out of her way.
"Look, I know it's late, but I locked my keys in my office and I can't get into my apartment," she explained. "Do you think I could borrow your keys so I can get into my office?"
Jack smiled. "Sure. Do you want a ride over?" he asked as he grabbed his jacket and keys.
"On your two-wheeled bike of doom?" Audra said sarcastically. "Sure, why not."
Jack grabbed the extra helmet from the closet and handed it to Audra, who was pulling her bag over her head. "Thanks," she said.
"Follow me," Jack said, opening the door and walking out to the small garage, pushed the door up, and pulled a dark blue Yamaha out. Audra smiled and stifled a laugh.
"What's funny?" Jack asked.
"Nothing," she answered, putting on her helmet.
Jack smiled and started up the bike. He rolled it out onto the street and moved up in the seat to let Audra sit down. She wrapped her arms around his waist and he pulled out of the driveway.
'I wonder if she really forgot her keys,' Jack thought as he drove through the city, 'or if she just wanted to see me again.' He felt Audra's grip tighten as they went around a sharp curve. He smiled and sped up as they pulled onto the next street.
They pulled up to the DA building within ten minutes of leaving Jack's house. Jack rolled his bike into the alley and then followed Audra up to the front door.
"You know, I swore I'd never let myself get on a motorcycle," she said as Jack unlocked the door.
"Why is that?" he asked, pushing it open and walking into the main lobby.
"My dad had one; he got in an accident when he collided with a drunk driver," Audra explained. "Dad died, and the guy who hit him got off with a DUI and the reckless endangerment charges were dropped for lack of evidence."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Jack said as they stopped in front of Audra's office. When he tried the knob, it was locked. He looked up. "How do you expect to get in without breaking the door down?"
"Easy," she answered. Pulling a paper clip and a bobby pin out of her bag, Audra quickly picked the lock of her office door. Jack heard a faint click! and the door swung open.
"Why didn't you just do that at the apartment?" he asked.
"At this time of night? Someone would have called the cops on me!" Audra laughed as she pulled open one of her desk drawers and grabbed her keys. "Found them."
"Yay," Jack said sarcastically. "Now can we leave?" Audra nodded.
"So was your father's death the reason you joined the police academy?" Jack asked as he walked Audra up the stairs to her apartment.
"Nope," she answered.
"Well, then what was the reason?" Jack asked.
Audra sighed. "My real father raped my mother. That's how she had me. I'm the product of rape. My mom loved me enough not to abort me and to give birth, but she didn't love me enough to keep me," she explained. "All I know is that she was sixteen." She opened the door to her apartment. Jack followed her in.
"I'm sorry," he said, embarrassed. "It wasn't my place to ask."
"No, its fine," Audra said. "When I didn't pass at the police academy I figured that if I couldn't enforce the law, then I could help protect it. That's when I went to Harvard to get my masters in law." She threw her keys down on the counter, along with her bag and coat, and turned on the light.
Jack looked around; the place was a mess. Books and papers were everywhere; the sink was full of dishes and from where he was standing, the bed hadn't been made for a while.
"Sorry about the mess. Do you want a drink?" Audra asked.
Jack shook his head. "Thanks, but I should probably be getting back. But we've got tomorrow off if you want to go out to lunch or something," he suggested.
Audra smiled. "Are you asking me out?" she asked.
"Maybe," Jack replied.
"I'll give you a call around eleven. Is that ok with you?" she said.
Jack nodded. "See you later," he said, heading for the door.
"'Night!" Audra called. She watched Jack walk down the stairs before closing the door. She threw herself into her bedroom, pulled on a nightshirt, and went to sleep.
Jack pulled his bike up the driveway and into the garage; he walked into the house and back up to his bedroom, but couldn't fall asleep. He lay there in his bed, staring at the ceiling, seriously considering what he could be getting himself into. He knew what could happen.
He didn't care.
But his mind was drifting onto more important problems, like how Audra was a rape child. He didn't think that anyone who had been conceived so horribly could get along living a normal life. Unless, of course, she hadn't known until she was old enough to comprehend what had happened.
Jack shook his head and rolled over onto his side. He stared momentarily at the photos on his bedside table; him and Claire only a week before her accident, he and his ex-wife, his mother and father outside their home in Chicago, his daughter. He blinked back tears and closed his eyes.
