Chapter 12 "Lucky"
The next morning Jessie woke up on the floor, the blanket messily spread out over her and Fin. She woke up with her head resting on his chest and his arms gently wrapped around her.
What the hell happened last night, Jessie wondered frantically? It took her a few seconds to remember where she was and why she was there. Oh yes, Elliot the stubborn jackass, she thought wryly.
"Good morning." Jessie jumped at the sound of Fin's voice.
"Yep, sure is." She muttered, snuggling closer to him. Jessie knew she'd regret it later, but at that moment, she didn't care.
Jessie glanced at the clock that was hanging on the wall. She had to squint because it was still dark outside. She groaned.
"It's five O'clock!" Fin chuckled.
"I wonder if John's up." Fin's wondering was quickly subsided by a bright flash of light right above them.
"The ultimate blackmail." John cackled and waved the camera at Jessie and Fin. Jessie began to laugh hysterically. John was standing in front of her in nothing but boxers.
"You have a tattoo of a pot leaf!" Jessie howled, standing up quickly, fully prepared to wrestle the camera out of his cold dead fingers.
"You tell anyone I will blow this picture up to the size of a poster and hang it on Cragen's door." John threatened, pointing the camera at Jessie. Quicker than lightning Jessie snatched the camera out of John's hand and snapped a picture of him, tattoo and all.
"Likewise," Jessie said with a smirk.
The three detectives took turns in the bathroom, Jessie taking the longest due to trying to straighten her hair and put on makeup.
"Finally!" Fin said when Jessie emerged from the bathroom. She rolled her eyes.
"I never understood why any of my ex-wives even bothered with that makeup crap." John mused as he locked his door and they headed toward the parking garage.
"You apparently don't know much about woman period or you wouldn't have so many ex wives." Fin quipped.
The ride to the precinct was a long one. They got stuck in traffic so that gave Jessie plenty of time to mull things over in her mind. The night before she'd gotten into a spat with Elliot. A spat over Fin. She left, went to John's, where she spent the night in Fin's arms. In another mans arms, she thought. Was that considered cheating? Of course it was! She just spent the night cuddled up to a man that was not her boyfriend!
At least we didn't kiss, she thought, trying to make herself feel better. It didn't work.
"Penny for your thoughts?" John asked, turning around from the front seat, giving her an over the glasses glance, his face shadowed by the brim of his hat. Fin gave her a questioning look through the rear view mirror and then looked back at the road. Traffic had finally started moving again. Jessie sighed heavily.
"I'm just not looking forward to seeing Elliot." She mumbled. Fin nodded his head.
"Me neither."
It was a few minutes after seven when the trio walked into the precinct.
"Where the hell were you last night?" Olivia blurted out from her desk. Jessie cocked an eyebrow and took off her jacket, laying it on top of a pile of papers on her desk.
"Good morning to you too." Jessie said wryly.
"Why didn't you answer your phone?" Olivia demanded, standing up and putting her hand on her hip.
"It was on silent." Jessie replied coolly.
"You spent the night at John's?"
"Yeah, so what?"
"Elliot was worried sick!" Olivia exclaimed. "He tried to call John and Fin but they didn't answer either." Olivia shot John and Fin an accusatory look. Fin raised his hands.
"I turned mine off." He said defensively.
"So did I." John said. "Jessie is a grown woman Olivia. She doesn't have to answer to you. John added.
"Harper, my office, please." Don said, sticking his head out of his office. Jessie rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, but she has to answer to him." Olivia said smugly.
"Ya'll need to stay out of my damn business." Jessie said to Olivia and then walked into Cragen's office.
"Do me a favor and next time you get pissed at Elliot and leave, call someone and let them know where you are." Don said, sitting in his chair.
"John and Fin knew where I was." Jessie tried to hide a smile. Don glared at her.
"Cute," He grumbled. "But Elliot couldn't get a hold of them either." Jessie rolled her eyes.
"I'm a big girl Captain." She said, turning to leave.
"Yeah, and even big girls go down in the big city. You should know that Jessie." Jessie turned back to Don and took a deep breath.
"Next time this happens, and I'm sure there will be a next time, I'll be with either John or Fin." She said, and walked out the door.
As soon as Jessie shut Don's door she sighed and shut her eyes when she saw Elliot sitting on the edge of her desk.
"Don't even start Elliot." Jessie growled, walked over to her desk and sitting in her chair.
"Don't start? I was up half the night!" Elliot shouted, jumping off her desk and glaring at her.
"Elliot, chill out man." Fin said quietly, giving Elliot a look as if he were crazy. "She was safe with us."
"Us?" Elliot turned back to Jessie. "You spent the night with John and Fin?" Jessie rolled her eyes.
"Our job and our relationship is going to stay separate Elliot." Jessie said, her voice stern and final.
"It is separate!" Elliot snapped.
"Not when you make a scene in the middle of the damn squad room!" Jessie muttered, trying to keep her voice down, glancing around the room to see who all was witnessing their little spectacle. Luckily, the only people who were paying any attention to them were Olivia, John, and Fin.
"Listen," Jessie sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. "I don't want IAB coming down on us so lets just save this for later, okay?" Elliot couldn't argue. He huffed a little but agreed to leave it until they could talk in private.
The rest of the morning went by without incident. Elliot did his best to ignore Jessie and Jessie likewise ignored him. Every now and then Fin would flash Jessie a secretive smile and she couldn't help but return it.
"You seem to be in a good mood." Olivia commented. Jessie knowingly smiled.
"Yeah well, I slept pretty good last night." Olivia raised an eyebrow but didn't have time to say anything because Cragen came rushing out of his door.
"We've got a situation people." Don rattled off an address. "Girl called 911 frantic, saying she's been beaten and raped. The guy is still in the neighborhood as far as anyone knows. All five of you get on it." Elliot wrote down the address and everyone grabbed their coats.
When the arrived on scene they found a woman in her late twenties lying bloody on the floor and barely conscious so they called a bus. Jessie found the situation somewhat familiar. Olivia decided to be the one to ride along and get a statement and make sure the rape kit was done.
Fin, Elliot, and John were preoccupied talking to CSU so Jessie decided to have a look around the back yard.
The neighborhood was a closely-knit community of older (but nice) homes, all close together and fenced in. All of the backyards that were visible seemed to look the same to Jessie. That's what she hated about suburban areas. Everything looked the same.
Just then Jessie thought she heard a muffled cry coming from the house next door. A guy was checking their victim's back yard for evidence also heard the noise.
"Go tell the other detectives to get over there!" Jessie said quickly. The guy mumbled something about having to bag something and that he would go as quick as he could.
Jessie made a mad dash for the house next door. She jumped the fence and ran up to the back door. She listened at the door and heard a woman pleading with someone.
"Please don't! No!" Jessie didn't waste any time. She kicked the back door in, pulling the chain locks clean off the wall, and rushed in.
Before she had time to pull her gun she was elbowed in the mouth, sending her flying out the back door. Jessie got off the ground quickly, her lip bleeding but otherwise unfazed, to come face to chest with a very tall muscular white guy with a tattoo on his neck. Great, she thought. She wasn't too worried. She'd tangled with guys this size or bigger before.
Jessie ducked a punch, feeling the wind off the swing, and dead legged the guy. She knew her best chance was to hit his pressure points. He suddenly grabbed her shoulders and pushed her face up against the tall wooden fence. That's when the heard Fin yell her name. For some reason this gave her a sudden burst of energy.
Jessie elbowed her attacker as hard as she possible could in the breath bone but was pulled down with him when he fell. He barely missed striking her in the face but instead landed a hard fist to her rib cage. He hit her over and over in the ribs until Jessie could barely breathe. And that's when she got pissed.
Jessie let out a frustrated pained cry and wriggled from the guys hold, pushing him off her with her foot in his chest. And then she kicked him as hard as she could in the face and then her right fist connected with his jaw in the same place her foot had and she heard a loud pop.
A second later Elliot grabbed the guy and he and Fin got him on the ground and cuffed him, Fin getting a few smacks in. By then John had made sure the woman inside was all right and had also come to her aid.
John kneeled down beside Jessie, who pointed to her stomach, and he lifted up her shirt and touched her ribs gently. She winced.
"They might be broken." John said softly.
"I'm fine," Jessie said through gritted teeth. "Just help me up." John nodded and, as gently as possible, pulled Jessie off the ground. She clutched her stomach.
"Son of a bitch hit me hard." She muttered. John smiled sadly. "How's the lady inside?" Jessie asked.
"She'll be alright. He'd only started to try to…well…you came in the nick of time." John lead Jessie through the house and out onto the front of the house where a bus was loading their second almost victim.
"You need to have those ribs checked out." John said seriously.
"Maybe later." She said. She saw Elliot putting the guy in the back of a squad car and then he and Fin walked over to the front porch where John and Jessie were standing.
Jessie leaned on a pillar and clutched her stomach as a wave of pain hit her.
"Jess, come on, we're takin you to the hospital." Elliot said with a tone of finality. Jessie didn't have the strength to argue. The bus had already pulled out so the guys decided to drive her.
John called Cragen to fill him in. Don said to keep him posted on how Jessie was doing and to fill him in when they got back to the precinct.
Jessie sat in the back seat with John while Fin drove and Elliot sat in the passenger seat. Jessie told the guys what had gone down.
"Why didn't you wait for us?" Elliot asked gently. Jessie felt a pang of guilt. He looked a cross between extremely angry at the perp and worried…and scared.
"There wasn't time. I heard her scream and I just bolted. It all happened so fast…" Jessie shook her head and leaned on John's shoulder. John put a gentle arm around her, not wanting to hurt her.
"It only took us, like, a minute to get over there." Fin said, his voice full of guilt and anger. To Jessie it all had been in what seemed like a blink of an eye.
"Your lip's cut." Elliot reached into the back seat and touched her face gently. Jessie saw Fin flinch at the intimate touch that Elliot was giving her and that made Jessie flinch.
"I'm sorry! Did that hurt?" Elliot pulled his hand back quickly. Jessie couldn't even smile. She was sore and achy and on top of all that…she felt guilty. It was easier to not feel so bad about what had transpired between her and Fin when Elliot was acting like a prick.
"You sure were holdin your own with that guy." Fin praised, diverting Jessie's attention. "You deserve props for that. It took me and Elliot to take that guy down." Jessie smirked at this. It was true. Jessie was fortunate to come out of that with a few sore ribs and a bloody lip.
"I think I broke something in his face." Jessie said, remembering the loud pop she'd heard after kicking and punching him. Her right hand was also throbbing; she just hadn't noticed the pain before because of her ribs. "I hope I didn't break a finger." She muttered.
When they arrived to the emergency room Olivia was waiting for them.
"They had to wire our perps jaw!" She exclaimed, not even noticing the fact that Jessie almost had to be carried in. "This guys attorney is pissed! Who tuned this guy up?" She asked the three men in an accusatory tone. Jessie just looked at Olivia, Elliot and Fin steadying her by holding on to her underneath her armpits.
"I did it." Jessie said flatly.
"The guys huge! No way!" Olivia shook her head in disbelief. John took a hold of one of Jessie's shoulders so Elliot could go talk to a nurse about Jessie seeing a doctor.
"Jessie's hurt." Fin said softly, sending Olivia a sharp glance.
Fin and John ushered Jessie to a sweat. John then filled Olivia in on the events that took place after she left.
"You mean to tell me Jessie fought a guy that size and made it out alive?" Olivia went wide-eyed.
"I've fought bigger." Jessie mumbled. She laid her head down on Fin's shoulder and he put his arm around her.
Fin was pissed. He should have gotten to her sooner! He ran his fingers slowly through her hair. Thank God she's okay, Fin thought. I don't know what I'd of done if… Fin mentally shook himself. He didn't want to think about what might of happened to her if they hadn't of gotten to her when they did.
Elliot came over with a wheel chair and Fin and John helped her into it. Only Elliot was allowed in the examination room with her because he was listed as an emergency contact, as was the Captain.
"You three ought to head back to the station." Jessie said, gripping Fin's arm and giving it a light squeeze, so quickly that Elliot didn't notice.
"No," He shook his head. "It wont take that long and that asshole attorney can wait." Jessie smiled weakly and was then wheeled away.
"Well, your ribs aren't broken, but bruised very badly." Doctor Radly said, looking over Jessie's x-rays. "Your lip will heal fine. No stitches needed. You may have a scar though." Jessie grinned.
"Battle scars." She muttered.
"You've been hurt before, I see. Your back has a lot of scar tissue and your knees…" The doctor rubbed his chin. "Your knees are hopeless. You're much too young to have these injuries."
"I'm a detective. I'm lucky I'm not dead." Jessie said flatly.
A few minutes later Jessie was given some pills for the pain and sent on he merry way with a firm warning to take it easy.
"So, how did you hurt your back?" Elliot asked on the way back to the station.
"Two hundred pound drug dealer threw me up against a brick wall a few times."
"Damn," Fin said, shaking his head. "You've taken some punishment."
"Yeah," Jessie mumbled. "I'm lucky to be alive!"
Jessie stared out the window, watching the pedestrians walking down the sidewalk. Jessie wondered what horrors they had experienced. If they were aware of all the terrible things that were out there, would they even get out of bed?
"What's wrong sweetheart?" Elliot asked from the front seat. Fin was driving and Jessie was in the back with John and Olivia.
"Just sore." Jessie mumbled, trying to smile.
"You'll feel better once you get those pills in you." John consoled. Jessie just gave a grateful smile.
Jessie looked around the car and saw four people that truly cared for her very much, two that may of very well loved her, even though they hadn't known her for very long.
"I really am lucky to be alive." Jessie said. Fin looked at her through the rear view mirror and he gave a small smile.
"Yeah, me too."
Authors Note: Heylo everybody! I wanna say thanks for all the reviews! D, you gave me an awesome idea and I'm so using it for chapter 13! And I'm warning everyone, chapter 13 is going to be a major turning point in the story, so you don't want to miss it! Keep up the awesome reviews! –Ali 3
