Caveat: Oh yes, I do own Touching Evil - and I've got David Creegan stashed away in the dark abyss of my basement...Well, if I had a basement. OK, my garage then. :D NO I am not kidding. OK, maybe just a little, hehe. I know I didn't get it out by Monday, but hey - moving was harder than it seemed. First day I get settled and I lose my FCKING wallet. Sorry for the outburst...but writing this is the only way I can forget my troubles even for just a chapter. Saw Entropy - eyes have widened just a little more. I sincerely hope you enjoy. WARNING: LONG
- Heaven's Burning -
By Mia aka Ai-no-Tora
Chapter Seven: "Furious Angel"
Driving home, Susan could hear Hank's lecture echoing through her ears but otherwise the car ride was silent.
"I already told you Susan, it was too early. I understand if you need a few days more - I just don't want you bringing the axe down too soon...we all have our limits." She had looked into his eyes, her captain and friend, but she saw something she didn't want, didn't need, didn't care for. Pity. Halfhearted sympathy. Why couldn't things stay professional in a professional environment? She closed her eyes and wished it away.
"It's because I'm a woman, isn't it? Well, I'll tell you something 'Chief'," She felt the knife in her gut give another 180 degree turn. When she'd seen him flinch was when the bowstring broke without her consent, the arrow flying haphazardly. "I may be a woman, but I can sure as hell work harder than most of your recruits here and I'm not about to go home and feel sorry for myself."
She wanted to bang her head against a wall. Perhaps if she told him it really was because of her aunt's death that she said such careless words, maybe he would become lenient and there they would go again with the pity. She'd rather take the pity than lose her job though. Her hand struck the steering-wheel in frustration, then it came up to cover her mouth. Damn you, David Creegan. I lost my head because of you. All because of you. Your fault...your fault...damn you, Creegan! She certainly couldn't tell Enright it was because of him, now could she.
Staring up at the red light glaring down at her as she applied pressure to her brakes, her eyes traveled down to her cell-phone awaiting her in the passenger seat. In normal circumstances, she would have called David. A light shined down in some particular part of her heart in realization. She would have called David for someone to talk to?
However, this particular problem partially concerned him. "Who the hell am I kidding," Branca said out loud, stepping on the gas as her car pulled forward as the light turned green, simultaneously reaching for her mobile. "This concerns him the most."
--
She had met Alexandria Colbin at the Produce aisle at the grocery store on a Friday evening. Shopping at the end of a busy working week then looking for ripe bananas could really take a considerable amount of energy. She remembered she had dropped the bananas in her hand, and without dusting them off she put them back and got another set of five, all within slick movements. Alex was over by the tomatoes, watching intently before commenting with a strong British accent that dust didn't suit bananas as they should. Susan had looked beyond mortified before Alex had started laughing, walking over and telling her she wasn't the first one to do such an act of discretion.
It was the start of a beautiful friendship - or so some would have it.
Alex knocked on the big red door of her apartment at precisely 7:30 P.M. Susan let the tall, cheeky brunette in, eyeing the big tub of Cosmopolitan ice-cream in her arms and a bag of chocolate. "And what do you suppose those are for?" Meaning the goodies as Alex set them on the kitchen counter.
"Guilt-trip right? Or perhaps love unrequited - no need to tell me dear, I can read you like a dripping rag hot off the press." She knew just where everything was and brought out bowls and necessary utensils. "You're somewhat cryptic...yet what's obvious is that you need some companionship. C'mon - I won't be made to pillage - move along." She urged her with a bowl and spoon, and for once Susan let herself giggle - truly just giggle, something she couldn't remember doing often.
--
"Maybe he really didn't have the balls to go after you because he thought you needed to cool off or something."
They sat on the couch but unlike Creegan's premonition, no Lifetime movie was on, no Diane Lane shagging Olivier Martinez to be had. The dishes only had slight traces of ice-cream. Although there was the cotton throw.
"Well you're right about the lack of balls." Susan pressed the heels of her hands into her tightly shut eyes. "And probably the only reason he would go after me is to get the donuts. I mean trust me Alex, he is totally --"
"Hot? Scrumptious? No, no, scratch that: indelibly delectable." Alex's gray eyes rolled toward the back of her head as she worked her mouth around a mound of French chocolate. She had seen the infamous David Creegan once before by way of Susan. "Not to mention deliciously single." She dwelled a little on that detail then looked toward her friend. "Say, Suze...you wouldn't mind if I were to --"
"No, Alex," Branca muttered quietly.
"That's great! What's his number?" The Brit woman reached for her cell phone.
"I meant no when I said no." The detective clarified once more, hiding her face behind a pillow she began to hug. Alex stopped and looked more closely at her best friend - or at least tried to.
"You're in lo. . ." Alex trailed off in an inaudible whisper.
Susan raised her head. "Hm? What was that?"
Alex quickly shook her head, turning away to hide her smile. "I just said you're tired and you should turn in early." She grabbed another Ferrero Rocher and as she tore off the gold wrapping, she was waiting for Susan to say something.
"Alex..."
"Yeah hun." She popped the little nutty chocolate ball into her mouth.
"There's this woman..."
Alex nearly choked on the morsel but quickly recovered. "Ahem Sorry...go ahead?"
Susan sat up, her eyes gazing off into space. "There's this woman that I think likes David." She reached up and scratched her forehead in thought. "Her name is Hallie Piper. He rescued her one night at the park after she got wounded and brought her to his apartment, and she spent a night...no, two nights. I actually met her today."
Glad she didn't get the wrong impression as to Susan's sexual preference, she tilted her head. "A bitch was she? Whore with too long of nails, stinking of cigarette smoke and cheap make-up?" Susan gave her a look. "Haha, sorry...Um, how was she? You didn't catch them in a compromising situation did you?"
God forbid. Susan wanted to laugh, shaking her head as she recapped on what had happened earlier. Once she finished she felt an almost demonic urge to put as many of those little chocolates in her mouth until she was just one big butter ball. She cursed David once again at such a thought that was so unlike her, yet so like him.
"Susan . . ." Seeing her eyes, Alex handed her a chocolate. "That David sounds like such a funny guy." Susan rolled her eyes. "Anyway, maybe it's because he's jealous too."
"Yeah. Okay," Susan muttered sarcastically. And I would eat Bernal's tie if that were true.
"I'm serious. Within the time I've known you, I've noticed you need to open yourself up more. I think that you should see which one of them you like better - David or Hector."
"And how do you suppose I'm going to determine that?"
"I thought it would have been obvious by now." She swore she saw Alex's green eye twinkle. "Date Hector - see how he operates. If indeed he really smells like Corn-Nuts in bed." She got a chocolate-ball on the cheek for that and a glare. (Perhaps David and Susan have been working together for too long...) Alex laughed. "Goodness Susan, when's the last time you shagged some bloke you didn't have any involvement with except work?"
An image of her past fiancee flashed before her eyes then eased onto David, gray-blue grasping onto her innards. Her voice was quiet, almost sad. "Too long, Alex. Too long."
Her Brit friend reached over and patted her shoulder, a soft smile gracing her lips. "So why wait any longer? Grab the train before it leaves you behind."
--
Monday.
Her car pulled up in front of the OSC department that morning, the early-morning mist still hovering in the air. She got out, closed the door and armed it. Walking toward the front of the building with the forestry-like scene before her, she only glanced toward the nearby intersection only for a second and there she was.
A dark-haired girl that looked remarkably like Dora - the girl she had adopted from Ukraine as part of her assignment, was standing across the street wearing a starch-white long-sleeved dress that came to her knees. The girl looked straight at Branca, almost as though she were reading everything behind the scenes and knew exactly what it was that hid her innermost thoughts and feelings and weaknesses without the lies. Susan stopped, eyes watering, chest tightening.
Should've done something but I've done it enough...
Susan's lips trembled in unspoken pain, one leg going in front of the other. Dora.
A truck passed by, blocking her view of the young girl - but as soon as the truck had gone so were the dark-brown eyes that exposed everything that she was.
--
Creegan didn't take his eyes away from his partner as he sat there in his car, contemplating, measuring the exact emotion that belied Susan at the very moment and not quite succeeding. The look in her beautiful eyes squeezed the life essence of his heart and hurled it against a brick wall. As he watched her watch the little girl across the street, a thought he'd previously had about the woman agent grappled his mind and held onto it firmly. Without so many words, that moment had just revealed what little he knew of Branca's past and if he couldn't get it out of her, he sure as hell wouldn't let Sanders own such precious information if it killed him.
--
A disgruntled Bernal carefully opened the door to Branca's office, and upon seeing her he walked toward her desk and tossed a file right over the one she was looking at. She met his eyes through her glasses and frowned. "That's for Creegan - make sure he gets it. It's for the case he and Rivers are working on," He absently ran a hand over his shiny hairless scalp. "I would be working with them on it but I know it won't be long for the guy to figure it out and everybody'd be able to go home." He had that matter-of-fact tone, almost remorseful.
Susan sighed and sat back, taking off her glasses. "'The guy,' huh? Chas - you don't mind do you?" He shook his head, lips pursed, eyebrow raised. "I seriously think you should get over it by now - it's been too long. I mean two years is too damn long to be holding a grudge over a promotion that just wasn't in your prime." She caught her tongue. What was she doing? Defending Creegan? Well, he was her partner after all no matter how much he was beginning to annoy her. And of course that other little detail...
"You know Susan, you should watch out," Bernal absent-mindedly reached up and touched the wilting lilies in her vase, studying the frailty of the white petals. She was astounded at herself for not throwing them out yet. "I don't need to tell you twice that getting too involved can be painful." The words registered like a stab wound. She didn't say anything - she didn't need to. She couldn't have if she wanted to in the first place. He dropped his hand and flashed her a smile. "Well I'll see you around - take care, Susan." And with that he walked out and was gone.
Susan paled. Perhaps he was talking about Laney. But who could he possibly be referring to now...? Her thoughts sharpened like the edge of a perilous blade. She knew it was a bad idea - she should've been more persistent in getting issued another partner two years before.
"Susan...?"
She slammed her hand down on her desk. "What is it now --" It wasn't Bernal, nor was it Creegan or Enright or Rivers - but Hector Sanders. Her cheeks colored. "Oh God, I'm so sorry ..." Corn-Nuts. Ranch. Ranch Corn-Nuts, Susan...
Agent Sanders moved forward as he tucked away a bag of Corn-Nuts in his jacket pocket, a wary smile plastered on his creamy face - this time around he had an orange ice-cream colored necktie with a black dress shirt. This guy needed someone to tell him he could get shot somewhere. "No, I'm sorry. Is this a bad time?" He came around her desk and laid a hand on the file she was perusing. His smile meant to distract like there was something else going on behind the scenes she didn't know about.
"No, no, it's not a bad time," She stammered, quickly standing up and trying to smile. "Just a lot of work heaped up on me you know - sometimes it makes me think about chicken-sexing for a career." Sanders' eyes widened. "You know? Checking chickens to see if they're male or female." She could never explain how stupid she was feeling at the moment.
His hand went out toward her and she flinched slightly as he brushed a lock of blonde hair from her cheek. It was at the same time that she caught Creegan's eye through the glass wall outside her office. "You need more time, Susan. It's too soon; believe me, I know. Women in the workplace are the emotional bearings - sometimes they have more needs than men do, and I think what you need is more time."
She practically heard Enright talking in her ear. She almost spat back a reply about being a professional and that she knew better to have personal problems separate from her work - but her throat stalled. If she were to do it, it would only prove how right Creegan was. David himself never told her it was 'too early' or that she 'needed more time.' Though right now she just hated being proved how utterly wrong she was and how right he was about how shallow this Sanders character could be.
She glanced at Creegan again - damn these glass walls - he was watching intently as he stood there even as others went around him. This was it - her move. Checkmate. "You're right, Hector. You're absolutely right," She chuckled lightly, shaking her head meanwhile her insides were falling apart at the seams. "Time. That's what I need."
"I'm glad you agree." He smiled, walked forward and engulfed her in a swallowing hug leaving her numb. She saw something unspeakable and glaring in David's eyes, smoldering and angry - nothing. He fled and the Susan within that held everything she felt for him clawed and screamed at the boundaries in which she dared not cross.
The more you love them, the more you have to pretend they don't exist.
An unbidden sob escaped her throat and, thinking it was because of her recent loss (when in truth she had just lost something or someone), Sanders hugged her even tighter and shushed her quiet in comfort.
--
Her heels struck the floor of the building in a steady rhythm as she tried to keep her eyes downward. She neared the elevator and waited as others got out before she got in, pressing a button and waiting. The doors almost slid to a close when a hand stopped it - and Creegan's face along with his lean body appeared and stood next to her. She swore her heart stopped, the blood halting and she felt dizzy as she swallowed the feeling away. She prayed - in all her Catholic righteousness she prayed for someone else to walk in; let the plate of Danish be damned.
She was left unanswered and she seemed to wallow in the stale air of the elevator.
Doors closed; they were alone. He was looking right at her, his whole body turned toward her. He was waiting for something, she could feel it, literally feel his eyes touching her skin. The sensation left her besotted and angry at herself. She finally gave in, thrusting a file toward him. "From Bernal with love," she muttered before facing forward again.
He slowly took it, lips parted in question as he confirmed what was in the file. "Thank you, Susan."
The knife gave yet another heart-wrenching twist. "Mm."
She didn't expect it but when he did do it was when she realized she never really should expect anything from him anymore - she was talking about one of the world's unpredictable men here. He punched the button and the elevator stopped - and immediately she set panicked eyes on him. She couldn't be within two feet of him for this long. He couldn't do this. He just couldn't. "What're you doing Creegan? I've got someplace to be --"
His curled hand came out of nowhere and slammed the metal wall to her left, making her stand upright in a jolt. The blue in his eyes became more apparent as they charged physical electricity, indirectly heightening his handsome features and she damned him for it. "Look, I'm sorry that I'm not worth your time lately," He was very nearly shouting. "I guess I forgot my Corn-Nutty cologne back at home." It felt like a ball of yarn falling down a set of stairs, unwinding, coming to a point of no return.
"Would you just stay out of it? It's my business - and what's mine is mine alone."
"If you haven't noticed, your whole office is all made out of fucking glass." He swallowed and closed his eyes at the memory until he opened them again. "It wasn't only me that saw you getting your freak on with that shit-for-sure agent - but hey, your business right?"
That did it. "Don't push it, Creegan."
He stepped closer as she simultaneously stepped back and they repeated the same process until she hit the wall behind her. "Push what? Push Colonel Sanders on you? Wouldn't need to Susan - you wouldn't need my help while you're doing the pushing and pulling in the relationship as far as I could see from earlier --"
She slapped him. Slapped him with all the force of her right hand - the same hand that touched him those few days ago. Don't bite the hand that feeds you, Susan. The tears came like invaders from another world, swarming until there was no dry space left on her face. The first time she had slapped him, she unconsciously promised never to do it again unless it were for a very good reason - somehow, this time didn't seem right.
No. Please. Let's rewind now now now now . . .
His face, oh goddammit his face was the very epitome of darkness that threatened to grasp onto you until the end of forever. His eyes stared down at her with as much gentleness as she could ever imagine, his lips swollen, unmoving. He looked at her as though she were the one, the only one that could make him feel all right despite what she had now done.
A reason for all that I do
And the reason is you
She looked grief-stricken as he studied her, this close yet being light-years away in parallel universes. Under the white of the elevator light, he saw it for the second time. He found the perfect adjective and noun that suited her perfectly.
You're my furious angel.
He didn't even raise a hand to cradle his reddening cheek. It wasn't like last time - he merely shrugged it off. The reason behind the slap was what held the pain. A hand reached up and he touched her, thumb smearing a tear on her cheek. She closed her eyes and she wished she could, for the all the bloody romance songs and the candles and the wet bed-sheets from passionate lovemaking to the rivers of heartache in the world . . . that she could love him. That he could love her. He nodded all of a sudden, gave her a sad smile and stepped back, punching the button for the elevator to resume. Each move he made broke her inside. "I get it. I get it Susan. And I'm absolutely . . . I absolutely understand. I feel like a dickhead too, but I think that'll pass." He met her eyes before the doors opened and he grinned one of those painful grins that warranted a sick feeling in her stomach. "I've got nothing now. I hope he's good to you - let me know if he isn't and I'll beat the living Corn-Nuts outta him. Just make sure he goes into the Men's bathroom. See ya."
"David --" Her voice was strangled in her mouth: too late. A flock of people went in front of her and crowded around in the elevator making her feel like jam compressed in a jar. Her tearstained face issued only a couple concerned glances but otherwise everything else was filled in with cold, merciless air-conditioned air.
"I've got nothing now."
She bit her tongue to remain silent. Can't you see that all I have is you?
--
Notes: I had to! I'm sorry, lol. This was the major angsty chapter - I hope it wasn't, well, stupid. Oh yeah, one minor correction: It's been 5 years to date since Creegan got shot in the head. He met Branca after 3 years of his gunshot, now in my fic they've been working for 2 years - so it makes it 5 years since his frontal-lobe injury. whew OK, stay tuned for the next chappy - Hallie does some nasty stuff - the case gets worked on and practically solved - and er...Branca gets endangered. I might have to split it into two chapters just to warn you! LOL oh yeah Entropy. CreeganBranca looks there, whew wtf man! Hehe I say don't ship them off too soon - it's too early!! At least like, 2 more seasons or something. I visit the TouchingEvilFans.com and the board they have there - so if you're ever there look me up! I'm "EvilToucher" haha how appropriate eh?
Thanx SO MUCH to the wonderful reviewers:
newsieskane: Hey Rebbeca! I'm so glad you're still reading it Yup, Hallie's going to be bad. Better that way, I say. I hope you like this chapter too!
NBLkolt: I adore your review. Thank you very much.
Mrs. Rhett Butler: I know seriously, I like male friendship haha! Rivers and Creegan look like they could be such good friends. Bad news for Rivers' character though....but hey I'm not going to spoil anything! (I'm talking about the original TE plot, not mine). I love Rivers, and Bernal too. They're such funny guys! Lol Oh yes, Susan is mighty jealous - but Creegan takes the trophy here, don't you think?
Self Injured: Haha the Victoria's Secret line . . . It amazes me that I actually came up with that. Perhaps someone else came up with it, I just didn't know. Oh yes, I know now how to get to your story! I hope you continue too and soon. It's so sad - but I love sad stories. Moving's an ASS - I agree completely. Stupid me and losing my wallet - me and my A.D.D. kicks self eh. What can ya do but learn the hard way??
Alamo Girl: Yes, so like Creegan to be honest but not really - I think. Haha like when he said, "Of course - I would never read another colleague's file." Now that's just being Mr. Sarcastic. I hope I got the sexual tension down - there'll be more, I promise you. It's gonna be intense.
Ginger: The amount of TE fics are escalating, believe me. Some are so hilarious - others have Branca and Creegan already shipped out on the loveboat with a couple kids in tow! It's hilarious I tell you! LOL Eh, I shouldn't say anything, I might find myself doing the same thing.
Elorapid: Aw, thanx a lot hun! hug Those were some sugary comments, I'm so honored! LOL I hope to GOD I won't disappoint you - so maybe you should hold your tongue. Watch out - you might regret it later! Haha I sure hope not.
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