Warrior Human Short Stories aka WHSS

by Tigercry

Welcome one, welcome all! Take a seat and get ready to read 170 (across three collections) chapters of stories with characters that will bury their way into your heart! From assassins to highschoolers, YouTubers, magic, multiple generations of characters, office building romance, and random drabbles, I DARE you to read it. (Currently Updated Suuuper Slow)

54. Boring Office Work (cinderblaze focus)

Snowcrystal of Thunderclan- I will definitely write a sequel and write a Bree x Jay family moment! :D

Featherflight123- Well It's finally finished! :D Cynthia and Leon are destined together! :D Yeah, it was a little sad, but everything worked out in the end! :D :D :D

It's finally finished! :D :D :D 31 pages of AU! :D :D :D I hope you all enjoy this, I 've worked really hard on this one! :D :D :D

Boring Office Work, Welcome to the city Leon AU

Cynthia, Leon- 21

Holly, Jay, Bree- 22

Haliah, Paige- 22 1/2

Ivory, Diana- 20

Flynx-3

"It's noon," Cynthia told Holly, putting down her pen to look at her friend, blue eyes warm, "You should probably go pick up your brother, there's no harm in being a few minutes early, and you're not really getting anything done right now."

Holly put down her pen and smiled sheepishly at her friend, "Sorry Cindy, I'm just really excited, I haven't seen Leon in almost a year!"

Cynthia laughed, "So you've told me twenty times," Her blue eyes twinkle, "It's better than my record, I didn't see you for ten years after I moved to England for that long."

"I know, but he's my little brother, I worry about him."

"I'm sure he's fine, from what you've told me he seems to be the kind of guy able to take care of himself," Cynthia said, picking up her pen and continuing working on the file.

"Still… I can't wait!"

"Then go pick him up," Cynthia laughed, amused by Holly's unusually happy behavior, "I'll finish up what we have here."

"I don't want to bother you," Holly attempted to say before Cynthia cut her off.

"I can do this stuff on my own Holly, it's not too complicated, besides," She put down the pen once again. "I'm going home as well."

Holly's green eyes light up, "You're going home early to Flynx?"

"Yeah, I promised I'd take him somewhere this afternoon." Cynthia shrugged slightly, "Figured that if my partner is getting half a day off I might as well see if I can too."

"Can't argue with that logic," Holly chuckled as she got to her feet and pulled on her jacket, "I'll see you later then Cindy, say hello to Flynx for me."

"I will now go!" Cynthia laughed and her partner disappeared out of her office.

:) :) :) :) :) :)

"Leon!" Holly greeted her brother, hugging her amber eyed brother, "You're so tall!" She said enthusiastically, looking up at her brother, the top of her head barely brushing his chin as she hugged him.

"Good to see you too, Holly," Leon laughed, returning the embrace and bending down slightly, "You haven't grown an inch," he grinned cheekily, "You're really short sis."

"I am not that short," Holly complained, pretending to be angry at him and slapping his arm, it was common knowledge that she was rather short despite being taller than average.

"No one is eye level with me Holly, all of you are short to me," Leon said playfully, picking up his backpack and slinging it over one shoulder

"Not everyone is that short!" Holly complained, punching his shoulder and starting to walk towards her car, "My partner at work is almost your height!" Holly shot back, she was a full foot shorter than her younger brother, being six-four he was much taller than anyone else she knew, Holly herself was five four.

:) :) :) :) :)

Adjusting to living in the large city of New York as a little hard for Leon, having lived in a small suburb area for twenty-one years, but he enjoyed the freedom of living with his sister rather than being stuck with his mother who had refused to let him go be a free adult. Which was why he was living with his sister at the moment. As he stretched his arms above his head, a small smile spread across his face. The flat was quiet, his sister was at work at the current moment, expected to be home in an hour or so, and he had enjoyed the uninterrupted peace for the past nine and a half hours, sleeping through most of it and playing on the PS3 he had brought with him for the rest of it. Of course, he knew he needed to start applying for a job, but at the moment he was enjoying the freedom. Next week he and Holly were going to visit their brother Jay and his fiancé Breanna Grayas, and he couldn't wait, Leon's parents had been divorced for the last fifteen years, splitting up so that Leon stayed with his mother Skylar while his older siblings went with their father to New York. While they could video call all the time, it wasn't the same as seeing each other every day. He had hated when their parents split, his sister had just lost her best friend to moving to England and the split up had made her even more upset, but the grumpiness had only lasted ten years because one day he had gotten a happy phone call from her saying eagerly that her friend was in New York and that one day he would have to meet her. At the time he had agreed, relieved that his sister was back to normal, and now, he couldn't help but wonder when he would meet her best friend. His relaxed musings were broken when the door was pushed open.

"I got you a job, Leon!" Holly grinned as she came into the flat and closed the door behind her, "It's been a week of you lazing about so I got you a job."

"What kind of job?" Leon asked slowly, sitting up straight and looking at his sister. "Not a desk job right?" he couldn't stand desk jobs, that's why he had become an investigative officer and went through a two-year-long training.

"It's a partial desk job," Holly admitted, taking off her jacket, "for now anyway. You're my assistant-"

"What?!"

-for the detective agency I work at."

"Okay, maybe I can handle this," Leon said, looking at his sister who grinned.

"You'll love it." Holly smiled confidently.

"I sure hope so, or I'm moving back to Florida."

:) :) :) :) :) :) :)

"Put on the tie Leon." Holly huffed, narrowing her eyes as she pushed the black and white striped tie into his hands.

"No, I am not wearing a tie!" Leon retorted, dropping the tie and rolling the sleeves of his white button down up to his elbows before shrugging on his thin black vest that had the New York police emblem embroidered on the front right side.

"This is like fighting with a five-year-old!" Holly huffed, "fine! Look like an idiot!"

Leon grinned triumphantly, "I don't look like an idiot, I'm just not wearing a tie."

:) :) :) :) :) :)

Leon ran his hand through his hair, he hated tedious work like this, it just stressed him out and annoyed him to no end, and it bored him to death. He was converting paper files to electronic, basically doing boring filing. A moment later, the solution to his boredom walked in the door.

"Hey Holly," A black haired woman with blue eyes strode into Holly's office, a pen behind one ear, ink smudged on the side of her nose. "Can you help me with something?" She asked having not noticed Leon, her focus on the file in her hands.

Of course, that gave Leon time to stare at the woman in front of him and his jaw slackened, not drooling, but looking her overall the same. The woman had midnight black hair up in a messy bun being held together by two dark blue clickable pens that matched the one tucked behind her ear and deep sapphire blue eyes, currently narrowed and focused on her task at hand. She was thin, not particularly curvy and about half a foot shorter than himself, but looked confident like she was comfortable with her looks, unlike most women he knew who were insecure and worried about what people thought about them. Dressed in an unbuttoned medium gray colored blazer vest, matching slacks, a light blue button-down blouse and black leather ankle boots with a large and a small buckle on the outer sides, she was professional but didn't seem stuck up, rather, she seemed determined and intelligent, like his sister. But he didn't want to think of this person that way. Sure, Leon had had girlfriend's before and all the jazz, but he hadn't met anyone that he was truly interested in. This woman caught his interest and not in the way by looks, sure she was drop dead gorgeous and had extremely pretty blue eyes, but he was interested in her attitude, that one drive focus wasn't something he got to see very often and he liked it. 'Who's she?'

"Sure Cindy," Holly replied, putting down her pen and standing up before walking over to the mysterious women, "What's up? Oh, and meet Leon, he's my brother."

"He's the little brother you've been talking about?" The woman replied with an amused question, still distracted with her file, "Miles found traces of what looks like the chemical makeup of a chemical bomb on the glass in that strangely flat area, it's believed that it wasn't a normal grenade, it's probably a chemical grenade."

"Interesting, You should let Firen know, maybe he has an answer." Holly replied, looking at the file as well, "Leon," She introduced her brother, "this is Cynthia Lawson, head of the chemistry and science department."

Leon nodded, mentally trying the name out, 'Cynthia… has a good ring to it, it suits her.' He watched as Cynthia took the pen from behind her ear and jotted something down onto the file, her movements decently fluid.

"I will, but this means that your idea about this being planned is extremely plausible." Cynthia said to Holly, "That chemical bomb in that soccer field wasn't a freak accident, someone put it there for a reason."

"Well I'm not usually wrong, we'll need to keep a better eye on the distribution of chemical compounds-"

"Woah, hold on a second," Leon interrupted the two of them, looking up from his filing duties, golden blonde hair messy from a stressed habit of running his hand through it, white formal button down long sleeve rolled up haphazardly at the elbows with his black active vest with a police emblem emblazoned on the front over top and unzipped. It was clear that Cynthia hadn't even noticed him by the way she jumped and nearly dropped the file she was holding, and Leon couldn't help but feel a little triumphant when he noticed her blue gaze flicker over to him for a moment, curiously looking him up and down before returning to her file, her cheeks a faint shade of pink. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you," He apologized to his new co-worker, "But I don't understand, a chemical bomb went off in a soccer field yesterday?!" He blanched, confused on why a chemical bomb would've gone off in the middle of a large city.

Cynthia stifled a laugh as she put her pen briefly between her teeth, looking down at her file and turning the page while Holly gave her brother a dry look, pausing the thumbing through her file to look at him and give a validated response. "Leon, it's New York, are you really surprised?"

"Well I know about all the separate families and stuff, but a chemical bomb in a soccer field? That's a bit crazy." Leon shook his head in disbelief, turning back to his computer and winced a moment later as something hit him in the back of the head. Jerking his head up he found a dark blue pen lying on the ground near his desk. Looking over at the two women who were now discussing more information in their files and couldn't have thrown the pen he frowned, picking up the pen and rubbing the back of his head in confusion, Cynthia still had the pen she was holding in her mouth and neither of the pens in her hair was missing, so where had it come from?

Holly and Cynthia locked eyes, amused blue to humorous green as Leon went back to his computer, putting the pen on the edge of his desk. Cynthia looked at Leon out of the corner of her eye, he intrigued her, unlike most men who she could barely face for a few seconds before turning on her heel and disappearing out of the office. After her experiences with guys, she did not like putting up with them or being around them long enough that they could potentially hurt her, but this guy was different, she could tell.

:) :) :) :)

Holly yawned and came out of her room, walking down the hallway dressed in her work clothes, a light green long sleeve button down tucked into white slacks with white wedged sandals, making her a few inches taller. She jumped seeing her brother already awake and munching on a few pancakes at the dining room table, 'What's gotten into him? He hates waking up in the morning.' She thought, walking over to him. Her brother was even dressed and ready for work with his golden blonde hair gelled partially flat with the top spiky, and the sides gelled flat and upwards. "What're you doing up Leon?" She asked, fetching a glass from a cupboard in the kitchen before turning on the tap and holding it under it. "It's not even six yet."

Leon started, nearly dropping his fork in the process, "I'm just excited to see Jay after work," He smiled, being half truthful. "Plus I figured if we're on time I can get finished with the filing faster and see what you two actually do besides filing."

Holly studied him for a few moments over her glass of water, having a few suspicions. "Uh huh, I guess that makes sense." She finished her glass before putting it into the sink and fetching her bag, slinging it over one shoulder before grabbing her phone as it vibrated on the coffee table. "Hello? This is Holly Bramble." She asked, watching her brother a bit suspiciously.

"Hey Holly," Cynthia's voice filtered through the device, "I'm not sure if I'm going to make it to the gathering tonight."

"What? Really? I was hoping my best friend would be there and would meet my brother." Holly frowned.

"I've already met him Holly, but I'm not sure because Flynx is still sick." Holly could hear the exhaustion in her friend's voice and felt concern wash over her, for the past week Cynthia's toddler son had been sick and she had missed a few days of coming into the office, preferring to work at home where she could monitor him.

"He hasn't met you, though," Holly put a slightly hidden meaning into her words, "I really wanted him to meet you."

"I know what you're implying and no I am not getting together with your brother. I'll come if I can get Paige to watch over him for an hour and a half, I'm working at home today."

"Right, see you then, Cindy." Holly sighed and hung up, looking at her brother who was now thumbing through the company directory and name list she had given him a few weeks ago when he started working for the company. She saw him hesitate on a page, lingering for a few seconds before turning the page, a strange look passing over her brother's face.

:) :) :)

Leon secretly sulked, running his fingers through his blonde hair in the process as he paused his filing to sulk about how boring it was at the moment.

"Leon," Holly sighed, "You're supposed to be working you dufus, get back to work." She could see him slacking off through her open private office door.

"I am," he replied, getting back to work and glancing almost hopefully at the door of the office door before frowning, 'This is soo boring, and Cynthia's not here at all. Which makes it even more boring.'

"Leon."

"Right, I'm going, I'm going." He mumbled, putting his hands back down on the keyboard in front of him and starting to get back to work.

He didn't notice Holly watching him, her green eyes thoughtful and curious, her brother already seemed to be developing feelings for her friend and their coworker, after only a week of being around her, judging by how he kept glancing up at the office door like he was hoping Cynthia would walk in the door.. 'I never believed Skylar about the whole love at first sight thing, but I think I might be proven wrong soon.'

:) :) :)

Holly looked up from her position sitting on the couch between both her brothers as someone rushed through the front door, black hair up in a sloppy ponytail, clothed in a t-shirt, skinny jeans, black fur trimmed hooded vest, and light blue running shoes. "I'm here," The person said through her slightly labored breathing, "Sorry about being late, Holly." She partially wheezed, leaning forward on her knees.

"Hi!" Holly smiled and got up, hugging her, "Leon," Her green eyes twinkled as she broke the hug to look at her stunned looking younger brother, "you already know Cynthia, but she's been my best friend since we were kids."

:) :) :) :)

Leon choked on his words, amber eyes widening slightly, the casual relaxed clothing fit the black haired woman for sure, but that wasn't what was making him speechless. The thing that was stopping him from speaking was the dark navy blue rimmed glasses framing her blue eyes, her eyes were even more blue from the rounded rectangular framed glasses. 'Oh my StarClan, how…' He noticed the amused look he was getting from Bree and he formulated something to say, his voice a little strangled. "Hey, Cynthia, haven't seen the glasses before." He managed to say clearly. Over the last week, he had gotten to know his coworker a lot more but hadn't known that she was his sister's best friend.

Cynthia nudged the glasses farther up her nose with one finger on a lower corner, "I usually wear contacts," She shrugged before smiling and greeting both Bree and Jay, "Hey guys!" She went over to Bree and leaned down to hug her before giving Jay a high five and taking a seat on the couch, "Hello, Leon," She smiled, and Leon blinked before shrugging and fiddling with his phone in his pocket.

"Anyway!" Bree grinned, "You're finally here with the rest of us Leon!"

That broke the semi-awkward silence and Leon laughed, looking over at his other childhood friend, "My mom refused to let me leave her sight for the past twenty years, quite a nuisance if you ask me." He smiled, "She may be overprotective but I still love my mother."

Bree grinned, amber eyes twinkling, "Skylar's cool!"

"You think everyone is cool," Jay grunted curtly with a roll of his blind blue eyes, he was sitting next to Bree on the couch, his arm resting across the back of the couch behind her, sonar and infrared sunglasses perched on the top of his head, the LED on one corner blinking softly.

"Yeah, it that an issue?!" Bree asked excitedly, looking over at him with a grin, "everyone's cool in some way!"

"How is Skylar?" Cynthia asked Leon, blue eyes curious, "I haven't seen her in twelve-ish years."

"That because you abandoned us to go to England," Holly smiled and playfully nudged her friend's shoulder before looking at her brother, "How is our mom?"

Leon shrugged, tearing his gaze away from Cynthia and turning his attention to his sister, "As overprotective as always, she hasn't really changed much over the years, she's a bit more subdued after the whole separation thing," he shrugged, "but she's just as energetic as she used to be."

"That's good," Cynthia smiled, blue eyes twinkling with mirth, "she was the funny parent when it came to pranks and everything that we used to do."

Holly laughed, "Yeah, my mom wasn't pleased when you showed me how to blow up toothpaste bottles and containers."

"Yeah, probably not." Cynthia's smile widened into a grin.

Leon's amber eyes widened, "That was you?" He laughed, leaning back against the couch cushions, "every time I asked she who did it she just told me that I better not learn how to do it or I would be in huge trouble!"

"That was Cindy!" Bree giggled, amber eyes twinkling, "leaving two curious five-year-olds and a four-year-old with a reputation of blowing stuff up wasn't a good idea!"

"I still don't get how I outran her," Cynthia chuckled, "how a four-year-old out ran an ex-athlete works, I have no idea, but I outran her and hid under Holly's bed, scared of the ticked off mother."

"Remember when Sarah let you help her bake a cake?" Holly laughed, green eyes glimmering with amusement.

Cynthia blushed, "Not one of my better moments."

"Tell us!" Bree chirped excitedly and Cynthia shook her head, still blushing.

"No way," Cynthia exclaimed, "it was not one of my finer moments as a kid."

"Cindy!" Bree whined, "Please! Even Jay's interested!"

"True, I am interested," Jay replied with a grunt and straightened up, blind blue eyes a little curious.

Leon was looking at Cynthia, fascinated by the pink that stained her cheeks, curiosity apparent in his eyes. "Come on, tell us, Cyndy," he said, amber eyes curious, "I really want to hear it."

Cynthia sighed, "Okay fine, but if this gets repeated elsewhere you guys will not be happy." She relented, inwardly surprised at Leon's different take on her usual nickname.

"Yay!"

"Okay."

"Fine."

"Thanks," Leon looked at Cynthia with a smile, his amber eyes twinkled affectionately.

:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

"So the chemical bomb's composition leads to the possibility of a not so random terrorist attack?" Leon asked as he thumbed through another evidence file a few weeks after the small gathering he had and he was being half distracted by Cynthia's sitting position, she was leaning on her forearms, jotting down notes into a small evidence sheet inside her current file. "Didn't you say the chemicals are expensive or something?"

"Yeah," Cynthia replied, pulling her file over to him and pointing to a number total at the bottom of a list, "roughly about fifty-five thousand even, give or take a few cents."

Holly shook her head in slight disbelief and shock, "that's more than how much you paid for your entire chemical lab, Cindy," she said with a small laugh, "and that's saying something."

Cynthia rolled her eyes while Leon innocently asked his coworker and good friend how much her lab was, and blanched, staring at her when she replied.

"thirty-five thousand, and the company paid for the rest." Cynthia shrugged, moving back to her spot, making Leon a little disappointed when she moved away from him.

To distract himself, he asked her another question. "How much is that?" He asked, handing Holly another file to replace the one she just closed, now finished with it.

Cynthia looked thoughtful for a moment before she replied, leaning on the table once again. "Fifty thousand," she said with the traces of a smile, one eyebrow raised at his surprised look. "Maybe I'll show it to you one day, then you'll see why it cost so much." She said casually her voice holding a small playful tone, writing a few things down as she scanned through her file, looking at Leon out of the corner of her eye while she wrestled with her learned defensive attitude towards men, after a moment she succeeded and shoved it away, having resolved to deal with it later.

Holly was inwardly dumbfounded, her friend was casually talking to a guy? Maybe even flirting with him? Both were something that Holly hadn't seen more than a handful of times, and not in at least five years.

Leon, on the other hand, was also stunned and didn't know what to do, he wasn't sure if she was flirting with him or was just stating a fact so he decided to play it a little risky. "Sounds fun," he said with a small smile, "where did you learn chemistry? I'd love to learn it too."

Holly's eyebrows actually raised slightly when her coworker didn't brush off the comment, instead, the blue-eyed woman actually smiled, her blue eyes lighting up with amusement.

"Maybe someday," Cynthia replied vaguely, looking at Leon, "who knows," she pretended to scrutinize him with raised eyebrows, "chemistry might be a hidden skill of yours."

It fell silent after Cynthia's comment, Leon feeling a little warm a fuzzy, but he didn't want to push her any further, from what he had seen over the past month, one wrong word and she would probably brush him off. Cynthia was quite confused on what had just happened and was seriously conflicted about it, unsure what was happening to her and dreading any more conversation, While Holly was silently wondering how bold and straightforward her brother was going to be. The silence reigned until the elevator dinged and Leon's father stepped onto the floor, visible from Holly's open main office door. "Mrs. Lawson," Brad said briskly out in the hallway with someone Leon had never met before standing beside him, and the woman was leading a small toddler, the toddler's face was streaked with tear tracks and his multicolored eyes glimmered with more tears waiting to break free.
"That's Sarah," Holly whispered in his ear as Cynthia stood up, putting the file she was working on down on the small desk and leaving the office, Leon and Holly following, Leon out of curiosity, Holly was just making sure he didn't make a fool of himself. "She's Cynthia's mother," Holly whispered in his ear and Leon nodded, focused on the scene unfolding in front of them.
Cynthia walked over to Brad and Sarah, blue eyes calm and unwavering as she looked at Brad, "Yes Brad?" She asked politely and stiffly, keeping calm and collected despite the itching feeling to get way out of his range, her preferable distance was about ten feet to men, although she was confused on why Leon didn't bring up the same itching feeling to flee to her safe distance.
"Sarah asked me to bring him up here to you," Brad replied, amber eyes softening as the boy tugged impatiently on Sarah's hand, sniffling like he was going to start crying.
"I have to go with your father to a meeting," Sarah said to the black haired women a little stiffly, "I didn't want to take him with us."
"Right, I'll take him, come here little on," Cynthia murmured softly as she leaned down and picked up the boy who sniffled and snuggled closer to her, putting the fingers of one hand into his mouth and looking at the people around him through wide multi-colored eyes. Without saying a goodbye to her mother, she turned back to Holly and Leon, walking back over to them before scooping up her file to return to her office.
"Hey, you can't leave," Holly said, her voice serious, "We need to figure this out."

Cynthia's blue eyes flickered to the boy in her left arm, snuggled quietly close to her, his head resting on her shoulder as he fell asleep before flickering over to where Leon was sitting at the table again his light blue tie hanging around his neck like a towel, the collar of his white shirt unbuttoned as well. "You can do it, Holly, I'll email you any information I find regarding the case."

Holly noticed her coworker's unease with Leon being around the toddler held snuggly in her arms, but insisted, knowing she needed her help with the case. "I need your help, Cindy, you know I have no knowledge of chemicals or science, I have the math skills."
"I'm just down the hall Holly," She spoke a bit stiffly, tucking her folder under one arm and shifting her hold on the toddler being held in her arm, "You can just come over to my office and we can discuss this when you're able to."

'What's wrong with her?' Leon wondered, watching her leave, confusion gleaming in his amber eyes. He voiced his question aloud to his sister and her reply startled him.

"She isn't comfortable around guys," Holly sighed, taking off her black rimmed glasses and cleaning them before setting them down on the desk and rubbing her temples, "I can't tell you why, but I can say that you're an oddity, most men she completely ignores, avoids, and or doesn't talk to."

"Even her dad?" Leon asked in complete shock, his attention fixed on the closed creamy wooden office door separating them from the rest of the employees.

"Even her father." Holly confirmed, "You're the first guy I've seen her talk casually to in five years and she's your age." She then put her glasses back on and looked at her brother, her green eyes twinkled softly, "don't ask me why, cause I have no idea, but she doesn't mind you too much." She looked back down at the file, returning to her work mode. "Back to work, this can't be a normal terrorist attack, like Cindy said, the chemicals are expensive to get…"

Leon half listened to his sister, his heart soaring at his sister's words, 'so Cyndy does like me,' His amber gaze drifted over to the dark blue pen that sat forgotten on the table, 'and more than other guys, I have a chance with her!'

At the time, Leon had no idea how right he was, and how hard it was going to be to get past her fear.

:) :) :) :)

"Leon, can you give this file to Cynthia to sign?" Holly distractedly asked her brother two weeks later as they sat in her office during a normal day of work, she slid a file across her desk while she poured over another manila colored file, "we'll be leaving soon."

"Sure," Leon replied and got up from his desk, he paused to stretch out his stiff muscles, before he picked up the file and left the office, closing the door as he did so. Walking down the hallway toward Cynthia's office he let his thoughts wander, the musings particularly focused on the few deer in the headlights moments between him and Cynthia that had been happening randomly, he wasn't sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing, the moments were usually initiated by Cynthia and it was like she didn't realize what she was doing, whether it was reaching up and making his hair lay flat by running her fingers through it, kissing him on the cheek, or occasionally lightly flirting with him, but the end result was the same the entire time, she always ran off and vanished. He shook his head slightly to clear it before knocking on Cynthia's office door.

"It's open," Cynthia replied and Leon stepped inside.

Leon blinked in surprise, Cynthia's office was drastically different to his sister's; while Holly's office was the standard office, white walled, organized and relatively boring, Cynthia's office was different, white walled, partially organized, and way more relaxed than Holly's. Cynthia's office had an open layout, the inner area with the main desk and a bookshelf weren't cut off from the rest of the office. One corner of the office held a small child sized bean bag with a short and small organizer shelf, the cubbies full of neat woven organizers that contained something probably child related. A large bookshelf stood in a different corner, full of many books, not all nonfiction related, next to the bookshelf was a desk like Holly's that had a sleek light blue laptop sitting on top of it with a few neatly stacked files and a small cup full of dark blue clickable pens. Cynthia herself was sitting at a large worktable, busy with a microscope, with a young man with blue eyes and black hair standing near her who paused awkwardly at Leon's arrival, in the middle of saying something about chemicals that Leon didn't understand.

"Tnt doesn't have the correct composition… You have a visitor Cindy." The young man said, closing the file he was looking at and tucking it under his arm.

"Yeah, I know," Cynthia leaned back away from the microscope and straightened up in her chair, "Look for a chemical with uses in propellants, has an oily texture, and is clear to a light brown in color."

"Alright, we'll get to work on it right away, thanks, sis." The young man smiled and thanked Cynthia. At Leon's look of confusion the young man held out a hand for him to shake, "My name's Miles Lawson, an intern for the chemical department, and I'm Cynthia's younger brother."

Leon cracked a small grin and shook his hand, "Leon Bramble, investigative officer, and the new guy here."

"You've been here for longer than a month, Leon," Cynthia rolled her eyes, facing the two of them, "You're hardly the new guy anymore." She made air quotes around the stupid nickname. "Anyway, what did you need Leon?" She asked as she got up and strode over to her desk, sitting at the desk and organizing the small pile of files on the top.

"Holly wants you to sign this," Leon replied, placing the file down in front of her as Miles left the office. "I have no idea what it's for."

Cynthia took the file and skimmed through it, "Chemistry stuff." She said simply and it was silent between the two friends while Cynthia read through the file.

"So Miles is your brother?" Leon broke the silence a little while later, noticing that she was more relaxed in her office than out anywhere else in the building.

"Yeah, he's a bit of a nuisance," Cynthia replied light-heartedly, signing the bottom of the file and writing a few notes at the bottom. "But all siblings can be irritating."

Leon grinned, "totally." he watched her close the file and get up, "how're you doing?" he asked a bit softly, amber eyes concerned as he remembered that Holly said that the case was bringing up bad memories for her.

Cynthia shrugged lightly, standing up and moving around her desk towards him, "fine."

"Are you sure?" Leon asked, watching her move towards him, a little more concerned at the brush off.

"Why are you asking me this?" Cynthia asked a little frustratedly, handing him the file.

"Because I care, Cyndy," Leon said sincerely as he took the file from her, his voice soft. "You're my friend too, and I care about you just as much as Holly does, probably even more."

Cynthia looked at him, blue eyes softening at his words, chin tilting up towards him, the soft evening light streaming through Cynthia's office window complemented the serene and soft tension filled scene and made it a little more fitting.
Leon watched her, gazing into her sapphire blue eyes while subtly shifting a little farther forward, the file he had already given her to sign was forgotten in his hands, Cynthia's fingers still holding one edge with one hand. Neither of them moved for a few moments, staring at each other with varying expression, of either pensive hope or indecision. Then Cynthia moved, leaning towards him and gently pressed her lips to his.
Leon's amber eyes widened slightly and he lifted one hand to her cheek, but the moment his fingertips brushed her cheek, the moment was broken and Cynthia broke away from him with a flinch that he could feel from the contact of his fingertips brushing her cheek. Cynthia stood in front of him like a deer caught in the headlines, sapphire blue pools scared and startled by her own actions and startled by the strength of her own feelings and emotions. She mumbled an excuse of some kind before slipping out of her office and disappearing down the hall.

:D :D :) :) :D :) :) :D

"You're staying home." Holly said stubbornly to her younger brother who had thrown up that morning, "and that's final."

"Fine," Leon mumbled, having gotten tired of arguing with her for the past ten minutes, he swore that he just had a small stomach ache, but she wasn't letting him go anywhere, and it was going to bore him to death. He had gotten used to living in the city of new york, all of the excitement, new things going on, the terrorist case, it all made his life interesting. While sitting around all day was fun back in Florida, it was going to be the death of him here in New York.

:) :) :) :) :)

"Care to tell me why my brother looked like he got hit with a sledgehammer when he came back from your office?" Holly asked Cynthia as the two of them worked on the case in her office, files scattered all over Holly's desk so it looked like a giant mess of paper, dark blue pens, pictures of the blown up soccer field, and the occasional container of thin mints. -Holly's idea.-

"No," Cynthia replied with a small scowl, crossing something out on a file in dark blue ink, the left side of her nose was smudged with the dark blue color. "I don't."

"What happened?" Holly asked incredulously, taking a thin mint out of the container and offering it to her, "you're acting like you used to when you were with Ashton."

Cynthia put down her pen, refused the cookie and leaned on her elbows before she started to rub her temples. "Sorry Holly, I don't really know what happened myself, I'll let you know when I do." She sighed tiredly, it was true, she wasn't quite sure what had possessed her to kiss Leon when he was in her office, and quite frankly it scared her. After her experience with Ashton, she was not eager to start anything with Leon, but she had to admit, she had enjoyed the kiss more than she probably should have.

:) :) :) :) :)

A knock on the door woke Leon from his boredom inspired nap and he lifted his head from where it had been squished against a throw pillow on the couch to reluctantly get up and get the door, wondering if Holly was back already and if he should go grab a shirt before he answered it, he decided against it and wished a moment later that he had.

Cynthia's blue eyes widened and she quickly averted her eyes to the ground, a bright blush spreading throughout her cheeks and across the bridge of her nose. "Jeez, are you trying to scare everyone who comes to the door?" She asked, covering up her embarrassment, despite the bright blush that he could plainly see.

"Sorry," Leon apologized, his amber eyes as wide as hers had been, "Wasn't expecting you to be here." He moved out of the doorway to allow her to step into the flat, along with his fascination with the pink staining her cheeks, it always fascinated him and it was extremely adorable.

"Well, neither was I until Holly decided I needed to come over and keep you company." Cynthia rolled her eyes as she stepped into the flat, carefully avoiding looking over at Leon. "She wants your help with the case so I brought some files to work on."

"Okay great, I was bored out of my mind anyway." Leon grinned, "let me grab a shirt and we can get started."

:) :) :) :) :) :)

"So Flynx's your brother? How does that work?" Leon asked incredulously, jotting down notes as he found anything in the files of particular interest. The two of them had been discussing things not at all related to the case as they worked, the conversation easy going and playful most of the time.

Cynthia snorted and rolled her eyes, her guard wavering as she relaxed a little and playfully bickered with Leon. "Flynx isn't my brother, he's my son."

"He's your son?" Leon asked, pausing his actions of sifting through files on the table to abruptly to look at her with wide amber eyes, a flash of horror and confusion passing through his amber eyes.

"Yes," Cynthia replied in a clipped tone, ducking her head back down so she could hide her face and continue sifting through the files, her voice showing him her hurt at his distrust, quickly throwing up her defensive walls and hiding behind them. "Flynx is my son."

Leon noticed the clipped tone but was at a loss of what to say, not sure how to handle the situation that had just gotten a whole lot more complicated. 'What am I supposed to say? Oh Starclan, this is embarrassing.' He groaned mentally, 'She's probably married and here I am having feelings for her and getting an encouraging response from her.' He racked his brain for what to say and said the first thing that came to mind, "H-how?" Leon inwardly cursed his stupid question, 'now I seem like an idiot!'
"It's a long story," Cynthia replied stiffly, not facing him, choosing to look over at one of the walls and hunching her shoulders for protection, tugging on the thin silver chained bracelet around her right wrist, a bracelet her son had managed to make with his aunt's help.

'Oh, something happened to her.' Leon felt bad disregarding Holly's well-placed trust in her friend and forgetting how trustworthy Cynthia happened to be, 'Oh StarClan, I really put my foot in my mouth with that one.' He mentally groaned, 'I just offended her big time. Holly's going to kill me when she ignores us tomorrow unless I can salvage this.' He studied her for a moment, studying her tense body language and slightly hunched shoulders like she was trying to protect herself from him. 'I really hurt her…' He realized, he hadn't offended her like he had thought he had, he had actually hurt her, something he hadn't done before. His amber eyes softened and he searched for something to say, curious about the story and apologetic for assuming the worst. "We have time," He eventually said, watching her, still holding one of the files, amber eyes confused, concerned, and apologetic.

"I don't want to give that information to someone who doesn't trust me," Cynthia replied curtly and Leon flinched at the subtle jab but he knew he fully deserved it.

"I trust you," He said without hesitating, "I'm sorry if it seemed like I thought that way."

"I'll just go," Cynthia said, her tone still clipped, "I shouldn't have bothered." She got up, stacking the files in the process before picking up her jacket, pushing her arms through the sleeves and shrugging it on, hiding her eyes. She wasn't used to feeling hurt like this, hurt by someone she cared deeply about and maybe even loved, she wasn't used to feeling either of the emotions and right now it was getting the best of her.

"No!" Leon exclaimed, getting to his feet and catching her by the wrist, looking searchingly at her hidden face, "You don't have to leave, I'm sorry I didn't mean to hurt you like that, I just tend to assume the worst," He said, struggling to see her eyes and get a reading on her expression. "Please don't leave."

Cynthia hesitated, wanting to escape the situation, but not wanting to seem rude. She just stood there as Leon got closer, unsure if he was being truthful or not. She was saved by her phone vibrating in her pocket. Taking a few decently sized steps away from Leon she pulled out the device and answered it, "Hello? This is Cynthia Lawson."

"Hey, Cindy!" It was her sister Paige. "Are you off work yet? Flynx is with me and I really need to get going, I've been trying to call you for the past hour!"

Cynthia immediately felt guilty and it must've shown on her face when Leon looked worriedly at her. "Sorry, Paige, I'll be right over, got held up with a co-worker."

"Please hurry!"

Cynthia ended the call and tucked the device into a back pocket of her jeans before briefly studying Leon's face and saying a short goodbye, "I have to go, see you at the office Leon," Leaning up on her toes she instinctively pressed a chaste kiss to his cheek before leaving the flat, jogging down the two flights of stairs to where her car was parked near the curb at a hurried pace.

Leon stood still for a moment before going over to the door and calling a soft goodbye, one she probably couldn't hear, "Bye, Cyndy."

:) :) :) :)

"Cindy's coming over," Holly decided, fed up with the game of "hide and seek" between the two that had been going on all week at the office, she didn't understand why the two of them were avoiding each other, but she had had enough.

"What?!" Leon yelled in surprise, losing his balance from his position sitting on the couch and crashing to the floor in a heap.

"I invited her over and you two are going to get along. I don't know what happened between you two, but I want it to stop." Holly replied and closed her book as a knock sounded on the front door.

:) :) :) :) :) :)

"You can cook?" Cynthia asked incredulously, doubtful that the golden blonde haired officer could cook, decently.

"Is it that hard to believe?" Leon huffed indignantly as he got up off the couch and walked into the kitchen with the intent of throwing something together for dinner, "Yes, I can cook, quite well if I say so myself."

Cynthia looked at Holly for confirmation, putting down Flynx's box of twistable crayons to look at her with an expression that said, 'Seriously?'

"Yeah," Holly nodded distractedly, continuing to color with Flynx, neatly shading in part of the racecar orange, "my brother's a pretty good chef, probably just as good as you are, Cindy."

Leon popped his head back into the living room, "Wait, you can cook too?"

Cynthia rolled her eyes, "yes Leon, I can cook. Did you think I made Flynx eat burnt food all the time?"

Flynx grinned at his mother, "Mama makes yummy food!"

"Well, I figured it was that or you took him out a lot," Leon replied and disappeared back into the kitchen.

"Why don't you two work together?" Holly suggested innocently, green eyes gleaming with determination, "you both doubt each other's skills so why not work together?"

Cynthia seemed to think about it for a moment before she shrugged, "why not?" She got to her feet and strode into the kitchen where Leon was in the process of filling up a pot with water and sprinkling a pinch of salt into it. "A pasta dish?"

Leon jumped and the pot of hot water would've crashed to the floor if Cynthia didn't react, she rushed over and caught the pot, preventing the kitchen from being flooded with salty water. "Sheesh! Are you trying to scare the heebie-jeebies out of me?!" He retorted, regaining his hold on the pot and putting it down on the stove, turning it on in the process. "But to answer your question, yes, I was planning on making a simple pasta."

"Hm... well Holly decided that we should work together so what about a simple spaghetti?"

"With a salad of something?" Leon suggested easily, pulling out another pan for a sauce.

"Sure, I want to do the sauce." Cynthia insisted with a smile.

"I got the salad." Leon grinned at her, "Sorry about earlier, want to help me with this?"

"Sure," Cynthia grinned, "my pleasure."

:) :) :) :) :) :)

"He's falling asleep." Leon grinned, looking at the toddler falling asleep on his mother's lap, the small boy cuddled on his mother's lap, his head kept drooping until he rested his head against his mother's stomach, finally succumbing to sleep.

"Yup," Cynthia replied with a small yawn, tucking the toddler's blanket comfortably around him.

"You guys can stay over here," Holly smiled at her friend, "you and Flynx can borrow Leon's room and he can sleep on the couch."

Cynthia looked unsure, not particularly fond of making Leon sleep on the couch while she borrowed his room for the night. "I can just go home," she said quietly, "I don't want to intrude-"

"I don't mind sleeping on the couch," Leon promised, amber eyes kind, "besides, Flynx will be more comfortable on a bed than our lumpy couch."

Cynthia hesitated but Leon didn't really give her a choice as he flopped down onto the empty part of the couch that she wasn't occupying, his hands behind his head.

"Come on Cindy, he doesn't mind," Holly gently urged her friend and coworker.

:)

Cynthia's blue eyes softened when she noticed Leon, asleep partially on the floor and tangled in his blanket bound like a mummy with his arms pinned to his sides, his shoulders visible above the small blanket. Cynthia walked around the couch and into the kitchen before she took a cup out of a cupboard and filled it with water. She then leaned against the counter, quietly drinking the water, her gaze fixed on Leon as he squirmed in his blanket and mumbled something in his sleep. She adopted a gentle and pensive expression and watched for a few more moments before she put the cup carefully in the sink and walked back to where the blonde man was asleep. Carefully pulling the blanket away from his shoulders she got his arms free from the tangled blanket and pushed one of the throw pillows beneath his head. Cynthia moved to leave and Leon mumbled something else, his eyebrows furrowing together. Cynthia paused and looked back at him, wrestling with the unfamiliar emotions. After a few moments of Leon mumbling and softly snoring Cynthia decided, going back over to him. She brushed his messy bangs out of his face and leaned down to kiss his forehead, lingering there a few more moments than she would have for any of her other close friends, before drawing back and going back to the room she had been borrowing the previous night, feeling oddly calm and content.

:)

Holly went back to her room, a faint smile on her face, her brother was perfect for her friend, he could heal the deep scars that scarred her heart.

:) :) :) :)

Leon looked over at Cynthia as the kid's movie finished playing and Holly took Flynx to Leon's room, the toddler tired out after being up all morning. "Can you tell me the story now?" Cynthia looked reluctant and Leon gently urged her, "please?" he asked softly.

"Like I said before, it's a long story," Cynthia sighed, looking at him, leaning back against the couch cushions with her legs stretched out in front of her, feet propped up on the ottoman. "It's not that cheerful or a very good one."

"I want to hear it," Leon said softly, his shoulder brushing her own, looking over at her, amber eyes soft and concerned, "I want to understand you better Cyndy, and I want to know why you don't get along with my gender." He said in the same tone, "you're an amazing person and I don't understand what happened to make you shield yourself like this."

"Alright," Cynthia said with a deep breath, "I'll tell you, but you have to promise not to treat me any differently." Her blue eyes flash with something close to anger, "I'm no girl in distress and I can handle myself, I've gotten over it and I don't want you treating me any differently."

"I promise I won't," Leon said confidently, nothing could make him treat her like she was fragile, his sister had taught him that, to treat women with both respect and courtesy, but they weren't fragile and shouldn't be treated that way.

"Okay, it started when I was sixteen, my parents didn't know what to do with me, I was stubborn, hotheaded, an athlete, and a tomboy with no intentions of settling down my temper and wit. But that all changed…"

:(

"...when my parents introduced me to Ashton."

Holly walked to the end of the hallway and froze, listening to her co-worker and best friend talk quietly to Leon. 'She's telling him already? It took me a year to get it out of her and he can get her to tell him after a month?... You've done the impossible Leon,' She thought looking fondly at her brother and noticing the way their shoulders were brushing, 'You made Cindy fall in love.' Giving her brother and her friend some space Holly turned and went back down the hall to her room.

:) :(

"Ashton was a guy with brown hair and blue eyes who was three years older than me and my parents thought would tame my rebellious attitude, so they got Ashton to agree to get to know me not intending it to go any farther," Cynthia said, looking down at her lap, hands clenching into loose fists. "But it did. He started developing a crush on me which led to him spending a lot more time with me, keeping me away from my parents more often and trying to get me to return the feelings on my own."

"On your own?"

"Once he realized I wasn't going to have any feelings for him any time soon he started to get rough, at first it was just grabbing my wrists when he was talking to me, flicking me in the face when I back talked him, or guiding me by gripping one of my shoulders with a painful grip. I didn't care about it at the time, it just made me annoyed and frustrated at my parents for it being their fault that I met him in the first place. After about four months it had escalated, squeezing my wrists or arms when he was talking to me, putting me in a chokehold every time I back talked or snapped at him, and keeping a painful hold on my wrist to pull me along where he wanted to go. Being an immature teenager I got fed up with it and told him to stop doing that and that I wouldn't ever have feelings for him, not one of my better moments." She winced slightly, "He didn't like it and put me in a stranglehold, he kept me there as I struggled to get free from him, eventually I ended up overturning a table and got my sister Paige's attention from the ruckus, she ran upstairs to find me blue in the face and losing consciousness. She screamed and he released me, scrambling back while I crashed to the floor coughing. By the time my parents had arrived I wasn't conscious."

Leon looked alarmed, "He nearly killed you?"

"It gets worse than that." Cynthia scowled, "He pretended I had passed out from exhaustion and I woke up with him sitting next to me, fussing about how I had passed out and asking if I needed water or anything else. I didn't say a word, preferring to go to sleep and ignore him. I woke again, but that time I woke up screaming and not at my house."

"What?" Leon stared at her before Cynthia's expression told him to drop it.

When he did she continued, "He told my parents we were together the next morning and I didn't say anything about it, knowing the punishment for rebelling. My parents got their wish, the rebellious nature I had had was gone. Forever. For months things got worse for me, going from just his fists to a blade or occasionally his firearm."

Leon's amber eyes widened a fraction at the mention of a knife and a gun. "W-What?"

"He usually didn't use the actual gun, preferring to hit me with the handle to give me a concussion." Cynthia soothed a few of his fears, her voice flat, "the injuries were hard to hide normally, but with my sports it was worse, so I dropped them completely and did whatever I could to stay at my school, I took eight college classes a day on top of my high school classes and at the campuses and my school for sixteen hours a day, doing my best to avoid Ashton and have a good reason to why I wasn't ever around. It went that way for a year and a half until I graduated high school and started working on my internship here at Mconkye, working enough to earn the title workaholic when really I was just trying to escape my home situation. Up until this point Holly had no idea about any of this, she found out because my parents told her I was over at his house and she found me unconscious with a ridiculous cut on the back of my right leg, a design of sorts. Once she rescued me I had to tell her so I did, I told her about Ashton and asked her to keep it a secret, she hadn't wanted to at all but agreed to hide it when I told her nobody would believe her if she told anyone anyway. A few weeks after I had told Holly about the whole thing Ashton decided he wanted more, proposing to me in front of my parents where I couldn't disagree." Cynthia told him, blue eyes dull as she recounted the story for the second time.

Leon stayed silent, amber eyes gentle and he continued to listen to her story, feeling empathy for his friend, he knew about overprotective and obnoxious parents, when he lived back in Florida with his mom she constantly pressured him to settle down and have a family, the most annoying thing she had ever done.

"So I agreed to it and tried to tell my parents about how I didn't want it and what he was doing but they didn't listen and Ashton was furious when he found out what I had said. While my parents and sister Haliah gushed about the wedding I started working constantly, pulling all nighters three to five days a week and even working on the weekdays to stay away from the planning and Ashton, sometimes I would fall asleep in my office rather than going home and getting any sleep there. Holly found out about the engagement and how often I was staying in the office and started taking me to her house every other night to both treat any injuries I had and let me sleep without the threat of Ashton. After I turned eighteen my parents urged me to go live with Ashton and again I had to agree. It got worse after that."

Cynthia said, blue eyes darkening slightly, "I started feeling sick all the time and my parents chalked it up to nerves with the wedding a few months or so away. I repeatedly missed any rehearsals and sometimes didn't come in to work with how dizzy and light headed I felt at times, but I still worked as often as I could pulling all nighters all the time despite how much worse the headaches became. I already knew what the problem was but I was too terrified to consider it more than once. Holly convinced me to allow her brother Jay to check it out with an ultrasound and sure enough, I was pregnant with Ashton's son." Cynthia faltered slightly and Leon cautiously put one arm around her shoulders, his heart soared when she didn't push him away, instead, she leaned a little closer and continued with her tale. "I panicked and refused to leave Holly's house, too terrified to face my family, only Paige had a vague idea of what was going on with her previous interference when I was sixteen. It didn't matter in the long run, my mother went looking for me, asking Firen who my partner was before asking my said partner where I was. Holly reluctantly told her and didn't tell me before she brought my mother with her after work and gave me a scare. I argued with Holly before turning my anger on the parent who had pushed me into the entire situation and yelled at her, blurting practically the entire story and ending with that I was now stuck with his unborn kid and hated his father. My mother refused to believe me and actually smacked me upside the head saying I was lying and delirious." Cynthia scowled,
"She then said that her other daughters were settling down as well and that I should be happy for them and myself, making me very temperamental, Holly stopped me from doing anything I shouldn't do to her and I fumed while she left, quietly coming up with a plan that would free me from the mess I was in. So I showed up to one of the planning meetings, in a foul mood and with Holly and Bree at my side. I pretended I was happy with the plans but made them switch a few things around while silently seething in my anger. Once everyone had arrived beside Ashton who rarely went to the meetings either, I snapped, pushing all of the stupid planning off the table and even crumpling up a few things. Everyone besides Bree and Holly started getting mad at me, confused and angry about how I had ruined all the planning they had been doing for months. I ignored it and got mad at them all, I proved I wasn't lying and revealed the pregnancy. A few weeks later we got enough evidence to take it to court and Ashton was put behind bars for a year and a half along with having a pay an extremely heavy fine. I had Flynx and couldn't give him up so I took care of him by myself. That the end of it really."

Leon briefly wondered what to say as he took in the whole story. 'She's had a really hard time…' He said mentally, looking at her with gentle amber eyes, 'but she hasn't given up and pushed through it. Learning this just makes me love her even more.' Suddenly something struck him and he decided to ask the question. "Did you want him to have a father?" He asked her quietly, wondering if she had ever thought of the possibility of Flynx having a father. He knew how hard is was, growing up without his father because of the divorce and wondered if she had thought about it as well.

"Yes," Cynthia said, her voice also quiet but contained traces of tiredness, "I've wanted Flynx to have a father, to teach him what I can't, but unfortunately I didn't find a guy I could handle being around with fearing for my safety and I don't want to be miserable and have to live with a guy who I can't stand."

Leon leaned a little closer, looking at her, neither of them noticed how he was absently playing with a lock of her black hair that was free of the bun it was usually up in. "I can teach him if you'd like and watch over him when you're busy."

"I…" Cynthia cut herself off, from instinctively rejecting him and put some thought into her response, 'It's not a bad idea…' she thought, 'he's easy to get along with, funny, usually a decent gentleman, cute, and treats me like his equal… Wait, cute? Where did that come from?' She pushed that thought away, intending to deal with it later, "I'd like that." She said sincerely, looking at him with a smile.

:) :) :) :) :)

"She's trusting you with Flynx?" Holly asked her brother in complete surprise as they drove to work the next morning, Holly was extremely shocked at her brother's admission, since Cynthia never let anyone besides her family, Bree, and Holly herself, to watch over her son, Miles and her father were excluded being men.

"Yeah," Leon nodded, running one hand through his golden blonde hair, "I asked her if she ever thought about Flynx having a father and said that I could teach him what she couldn't and watch him when she was busy, she hesitated for a moment, but completely agreed."

"Well I know the perfect time for you to offer to watch him," Holly said swiftly, "Next Wednesday, a few days after her birthday, she has to go to a family thing for the afternoon and most of the evening, you should ask her if she wants you to watch him for her."

"Her birthday's next Monday?" Leon asked his sister's sharply, amber eyes widening slightly.

Holly nodded, "September sixth is a Monday this year, next Monday to be precise."

"A warning would've been nice." Leon mumbled, "she's my friend too."

"Of that, I am well aware."

:) :) :) :) :) :)

"Leon!" Let's go!" Holly called to her brother as she impatiently waited for him so they could leave the store and go to Bree and Jay's house where Bree was hosting a small birthday party for Cynthia. "Cindy's going to get there before we do at this rate!"

Leon scowled, "Give me a minute you crazy person!" He had no idea what to get for Cynthia's birthday, work had been keeping the three of them super busy with the bombing case and because of that, he had been so drained when he came home from work that he had completely forgotten about Cynthia birthday until last minute. So he was running out of time. 'What am I supposed to get? I don't know... Wait!' His thoughts came to a screeching halt as he remembered a tiny detail that could prove helpful for finding her a not so boring gift for his friend. His amber eyes locked on a small blue tulip located in an area designated for flowers. 'Paige said that she likes blue tulips and anything science and chemical related, so a blue tulip and a vial set would be perfect! Now the only question is how I'm going to hide the tulip…'

:) :) :) :) :) :)

"Happy birthday Cindy!" Bree squealed, excitedly enveloping her friend in a bear hug, "Jay! Come say hi!"

Jay kept cutting up the honeydew he was cutting, his movements natural, his fingers constantly against the flat side of the knife, preventing any cut fingers. "Hello, Cynthia, happy birthday." He grunted, scooping up the cut honeydew pieces and dropping them into a bowl with other cubes of watermelon, cantaloupe, and a few other fruits. "Bree, I'm using a knife, I can't just go over there and say hi." He rolled his blind blue eyes before focusing in Bree's direction, "I swear you are the blind one."

"Hey!" Bree whined and pouted before she released Cynthia to go help him, "I'm not blind!"

"Hey, Cindy!" Holly grinned, she and Leon had literally gotten there barely a minute before Cynthia did, and Holly blamed Leon.

"It's great to see you guys!" Cynthia smiled, picking up Flynx when he continued to whine about wanting to be picked up. "Having fun with the day off so far?"

Holly grinned and hugged her friend, being careful not to squish Flynx or make him uncomfortable, "Yeah, if Leon hadn't nearly made us late!"

"Hey!" Leon retorted indignantly from where he was helping his brother by cutting up a pineapple, "It's not my fault Firen's been working us all to the floor!"

Cynthia laughed, her blue eyes twinkled with amusement, "I have to agree with Leon on that one, it's not entirely his fault that every morning he's just about a zombie from lack of sleep."

"Hey! That's not what I meant!"

"Sure it wasn't, Leon." Ivory rolled her eyes from her spot relaxed on Jay's couch with her feet propped up on the coffee table, her sister dozing next to her. "Happy birthday Cynthia, hope your day's going better than mine."

Cynthia cracked a grin, "do I dare ask how bad could it be?"

"With my sister drooling on my shoulder?" Ivory rolled her eyes again before shoving her sister away from her, "it's pretty bad."

"Ow!" Diana yelped as the blonde crashed to the floor, "Ivory!" she whined, "what was that for?"

"You were drooling on my favorite jacket." Ivory replied simply, looking at the damp spot on the shoulder of her jacket with a face.

Cynthia laughed, "Okay, your day is going pretty badly."

"Hi!" Paige rushed over to her sister, enveloping her in a hug before kissing Flynx's forehead, "happy birthday little sis!"

"Thanks, Paige, it's good to see you too," Cynthia replied, returning the hug before grinning with amusement at her ability to see right over her sister's head, "There is no way you are going to outgrow me," her grin turned cheeky, "I can still see right over your head."

"Not fair!" Paige playfully complained, "why do I get the short genes?"

"I'm short too Paige!" Haliah reminded her sister as she came over and hugged her little sister as well, "happy birthday Cindy!"

"You guys are twins, the similar height thing isn't that unusual," Cynthia told them logically before busting out laughing as they both exclaimed indignantly and playfully pushed her a little.

:) :) :) :) :) :)

Cynthia paused her conversation with her sister by her phone buzzing in her pocket. "Hold on Haliah, I have to answer this." She told her sister before getting up and pulling out her phone, walking down the hall while answering the phone call. "Hello? This is Cynthia Lawson…"

"I wonder who it is," Haliah commented with Flynx asleep on her lap, the crabby kid finally taking a nap.

"Probably someone at work." Holly sighed leaning back against the couch, "This case is insane, by far the craziest one I've ever seen so far. She might be being called in in regards to the chemical bomb."

"Probably." Bree said gloomily before cheering up, "but she won't be gone for too long if they are calling her in!"

"Sorry guys," Cynthia said as she reemerged, thoroughly put out. "I have to go to the labs and help out with a few things."

"Auh!"

"Oh well, I guess."

"Do you want someone to come with you?"

"Uh, sure," Cynthia nodded, her gaze flickering over to Leon, "Leon, you want to come with me? You haven't seen the labs and this stuff isn't confidential so if you want a tour it would have to be now."

Leon got up and pulled on his jacket, amber eyes curious and determined, "Of course, I'd love to see what you chemists get too down in the labs."

Cynthia smiled, her blue eyes lighting up in the process.

:) :) :) :) :) :)

"Chris, the problem in your microscope is the zoom function, use a screwdriver and tighten the adjusting knob, that should fix it," Cynthia said briskly as she briefly peered through his microscope before continuing through the lab, doing exactly what she was told to do.

"Okay, Cynthia."

"Alex, the dissolving chemical solution is neon green, not blue, doesn't dip anything in the blue unless you want it to burst into flames and knock out the entire lab," Cynthia commented as she noticed the error the blonde chemist was making.

"Oops, thanks, Cynthia!"

"Crystal, we're working on the bomb case, not making scented chemicals that had a chance of burning someone's nose."

"Sorry!" A black haired woman said sheepishly and started analyzing the chemical compound of the residual bomb.

:)

"Want to see my lab now?" Cynthia asked Leon after she finished making sure nothing was going to explode, catch on fire, melt, or turn into gas.

"Totally!" Leon smiled at her, amber eyes gleaming with excitement and curiosity, "I want to learn chemistry with you."

Cynthia smiled widely, blue eyes gleaming with excitement. She grasped his wrist and pulled him along through a short hallway to a white door. "This is my lab." Cynthia smiled, pushing open the white door to her chemical lab, the chemist relaxed more than Leon had ever seen before like the lab was where she was at home.

:) :) :) :)

"What do you think?" Cynthia asked him a little shyly, standing next to him and looking a little nervous, wondering if he liked the large open spaced lab, a place where she was the most as home and an area that barely any people had seen.

"It's awesome!" Leon grinned, looking around the white-walled spaced lab that was more of a cozy white-walled living room with wooden floor, a huge chemical station, a small t.v and a beanbag was tucked into a corner, along with a bookshelf covering one wall full of books and chemical organizers. "Totally your style."

Cynthia blushed, "thanks."

"How did you manage to pull this off? I mean, not many people have a custom lab or anything," Leon smiled, "It's really cool, though."

Cynthia shrugged, "I've been working here since I was seventeen, you work here for a while and you eventually get some really cool stuff. Holly has a library after all."

Leon grinned and Cynthia guided him around the large lab, her attitude extremely relaxed and laid back around him.

"Thanks for showing this to me," Leon smiled softly at her after about an hour of being around the lab, "I appreciate it."

Cynthia smiled back at him, not sure what to say. Instead of speaking, she seemed to think about it for a moment before she leaned up on her toes and kissed him without hesitating too much about it. Leon waited for Cynthia to jerk away as his fingertips brushed her cheek a moment later, but to his surprise, she didn't. Instead, he felt her fingers cautiously brush the sides of his face, her blue eyes closed. He enjoyed the kiss, enjoying the first kiss where Cynthia didn't jerk away from him and allowed it. A few moments later they broke apart and Leon watched Cynthia, worried about her reaction and wondering if she was going to run again.

Cynthia's blue eyes flickered with indecision before she smiled and leaned forward again.

:) :) :) :) :) :)

Cynthia slowly walked alongside Leon, her hands tucked in the pockets of her hooded vest, the two more than friends walking quietly together, their shoulders occasionally brushing. Leon put his hands in his pockets out of awkwardness before pausing as his fingers brushed something in his jacket pocket. Taking it out he realized with a jolt that he had forgotten to give her the tulip he been meaning to give her. Slowing to a stop he pushed the nervousness in his gut away and spoke up, "I have something to give you for your birthday if you don't mind," He said a bit nervously.

Cynthia blinked in surprise before she shrugged, blue eyes twinkling, "I don't mind."

Moving a little closer to her, Leon gently weaved the blue tulip into her hair, standing less than a foot away from her, looking gently at her, amber eyes soft and affectionate. "There," he said softly, "I meant to give this to you earlier but it didn't happen. Anyway, happy birthday, Cyn." He murmured softly to his coworker and friend, his left hand lingering in her black hair, his fingers lingering for a few moments on the stem of the tulip now weaved in her hair before he brought his arm back to his side.

Cynthia brought one hand up to gently touch the tulip petals just behind and above her right ear, feeling the delicate petals with her fingertips while looking at him with an almost indecisive expression for a few moments. Leon didn't dare move away, trying to preserve the moment. Instead, he glanced down at the ground, feeling a little shy and inwardly hoping she wouldn't reject him or run away again.

Cynthia shifted her weight a little before leaning forward and gently kissing him, resting her hands on his shoulders as she did so.

:) :) :) :)

"I'm trusting you with Flynx, Leon," Cynthia said, her voice wavering slightly, her blue eyes nervous, the mentioned toddler in her arms. She was about to go to her family activity, rather than her work clothing she was dressed in blue skinny jeans, a light gray t-shirt, a thin white windbreaker, light blue tennis shoes, and she had her hair up in a ponytail. "He means everything to me-"

"I know," Leon said quietly, his amber eyes understanding, "I'm not Ashton, Cyndy, I promise he'll be safe with me." he wasn't in work clothes either, instead, he was wearing a worn pair of blue jeans, a light orange t-shirt with the words, "More Stubborn Than A Mule," a grey and white plaid shirt tied around his waist, with white and black high tops.

Cynthia took a deep breath and nodded, she looked at Flynx who didn't understand what was going on. "Flynx," her voice shook a little before she steadied it, "This is Leon, he's going to be watching you, he's a boy, like you."

Flynx's multicolored eyes lit up, "He like me? He like cars?" Cynthia looked at Leon, she had no idea what he did or didn't like.

Leon smiled at the young boy and dug in his jeans pocket before he took out a small toy racecar, amber eyes gleaming affectionately, "I love cars, Flynx, wanna race?"

Flynx's eyes lit up even more and he almost asked his mother to let him down before he noticed the unease and hesitated on her face and he hugged her, "Mama, you want me come with you?" He looked at her through round concerned eyes, "I no like him if he scare you."

Leon's smile stayed in place and turned gentle as he looked at Cynthia, the black haired woman reluctant to give her child to a man, even if she trusted him full heartedly. He stepped a little closer and offered his arms, giving her the option of giving him to him. "He'll be here when you come home Cyn," He promised, using the nickname he had started using after the chemical lab incident, his amber eyes calm, supportive, and gentle. "Nothing will happen to him while I'm here."

"I know," Cynthia replied weakly before hugging her son, "no, you stay here with Leon, he doesn't scare me, I trust him."

"Okay mama," Flynx chirped and Cynthia gave him to Leon, watching them for a moment before thanking Leon and moving to leave.

"Thank you, Leon," she thanked the golden blonde, "I'll be back around six, Flynx, behave for Leon okay?"

"I will mama! Have fun!" Flynx chirped happily and Cynthia left to the family activity she had to go to.

"You're brave you know that?" Leon spoke to the toddler, smiling at him, "Making sure your mama is okay with me before coming over here so we can race."

Flynx broke in a wide toothy smile, "Really? I love my mama! She's the best person ever!"

Leon laughed as he shut the front door and started toward Flynx's room, "She is the best."

"Do you love my mama too?"

"Yes," Leon smiled at the toddler, "I love your mama too Flynx, very much."

"Yay! Let's race!"

:) :) :) :) :) :)

"Mama!" Flynx heard the front door open and scrambled to his feet, running over to Cynthia with a paper in his hand.

"Hi, Flynx," Cynthia laughed, picking him up and blowing a raspberry on his cheek, making the toddler laugh and giggle. "Whatcha have there?" She asked him, watching Leon emerge from the living room out of the corner of her eye.

"Is a picture!" Flynx grinned, pushing the drawing into his mother's face, blocking her vision in the process. "Is a wolf!"

Cynthia pushed it a little bit away from her face so she could see the whole picture and smiled, the drawing was a blue and green colored wolf, the actual drawing itself made her wonder who helped him draw the outline. "It looks amazing little one, did Leon help you draw it?"

"Yeah!" Flynx chirped as his mother walked towards the kitchen, probably to let him put it up on the fridge, "Daddy helped me draw it!"

Cynthia froze, 'Uh oh.' She thought before continuing towards the fridge, she could hear Leon walking close by behind her but focused on Flynx, "Do you mean Leon?" She asked him as they reached the fridge

"No, daddy!" Flynx chirped happily and Cynthia reached up to grab the magnets she had stored in a cupboard almost out of her reach. "Daddy behind you!"

As Flynx said that Leon had reached over her shoulder and grabbed the magnets for her so when Cynthia turned around she nearly crashed into Leon, her nose making contact with his collarbone and startling both of them. "That's Leon Flynx," She said with exasperation, hiding the awkwardness she was feeling and moving back a step.

Leon took a step back and handed her the magnets, "Here," he said, keeping his tone even and normal, "I could reach it easier," He explained why he went and got it.

"Thanks, Leon," Cynthia said as she gave Flynx one of the multi-colored magnets before looking at Leon, finding it strange that she didn't mind Flynx calling him his dad if anything it felt natural to her. Leon seemed to be thinking the same thing, but she recognized his expression, it was the same look he usually had when he was going to kiss her.
"Daddy watch me!" Flynx chirped to the blonde as he fumbled with the magnet and put his picture up on the fridge before looking at the two adults with pride, "See! I did it on my own!" He faltered a little, noticing that his mother was looking at the blonde with a strange look on her face, "Mama?" He asked, putting one hand on his mother's cheek.

"Sorry Flynx, I was distracted," Cynthia said as she broke the eye contact between her and Leon before looking down at her son with a wide smile, "Good job little one! You put it in the perfect spot."

"Yay!" Flynx threw his short arms around his mother's neck, hugging her tightly before looking at Leon, "group hug!" He chirped, making the two awkward adults reluctantly shuffle closer to each other so that Flynx could put one arm around each of their necks.

Cynthia looked at Leon over Flynx's head, blue eyes unsure, Leon looked back at her, his eyes calm, reassuring her about the whole Flynx calling him daddy thing, that she shouldn't worry about it. Cautiously he put one arm around her waist, inviting her closer with an excuse of Flynx being able to hug them both a little easier. Cynthia took the invitation, holding Flynx with one arm as she stepped closer and put one arm around his back, keeping enough distance to keep Flynx from being squished.

Flynx was oblivious to the confusion and stress he had caused, Leon was the first guy he had truly met besides his uncle and grandfather, and he could sense a connection between him and his mother, so calling him that was natural, if his mother was close to this man then he was his new dad.

:) :) :) :) :) :)

"Hey, Holly?" Cynthia poked her head into Holly's office, "can I borrow Leon?"

Holly looked up at her from her files, startled by the request, "What do you do need him for?"

"I have to go find files from the main file warehouse and he's tall enough to reach the shelves I can't reach," Cynthia replied simply, waiting patiently in the doorway for Holy to decide whether or not she could borrow her brother.

"I'll come help you no matter what she says, Cyndy." Leon cracked a grin, leaning forward slightly on his desk.

"I'm sure you would," Cynthia replied, raising her eyebrows slightly, "but it's advisable to ask your superiors first."

Holly laughed as her brother pouted and wilted and grinned at the two of them, "Well I don't have a choice now do I? Go on then, Leon, go help her get the files we need." She put down her pen and turned serious, "Do you have any new information on the case, Cindy?"

Cynthia nodded, stepping into the office and leaning on one of the walls, her arms crossed casually over her chest, "The bomb wasn't a simple, easy everyday chemical bomb. It wasn't even solid."

Holly's eyes widened, "A liquid chemical bomb? Do you know what the bomb's makeup was?"

"Yeah," Cynthia straightened up and walked over to Holly, pulling a file out of her satchel and sliding it across the desk, while flipping it open to a page with a bunch of chemical information. "Trimethylolethane trinitrate, an explosive usually used in solid propellants and is is about one and a half times as powerful as normal Trinitrotoluene, or TNT." She tapped on the name of the chemical at the top of the current page, "this stuff sometimes replaces nitroglycerin in propellants."

"Seriously?" Holly asked in surprise, scanning through the file, "I didn't think it was that strong."

"Yeah, a military grade explosive." Cynthia replied before she took the file and tucked it back into her satchel, "anyway, there are some other files that I need to go find and I'm taking Leon with me."

Leon got to his feet, "Let's go then," he said with a small grin, "Personally, I intend to go home sometime before nine tonight and before I'm falling asleep at my desk."

"Hey!" Holly retorted as they both left, knowing that the comment was directed at her. All she got as a reaction to her indignant retort was a short giggle from Cynthia.

:) :) :) :) :) :) :)

"So… I'm just here as your personal height advantage?" Leon teased and playfully bumped his shoulder against Cynthia's, amber eyes gleaming with playfulness as they walked through the parking lot of the main building to Cynthia's car, seeing how Leon had no idea how to get to the warehouse. After the whole tulip incident and Leon's breakthrough with her regarding her son Flynx, the two of them had been getting closer and Cynthia had been more relaxed with her guard down around him, making the strain in their relationship that had appeared after his had offended her a while back, ease and vanish.

"Definitely." Cynthia teased in return, blue eyes twinkling as she nudged him back, at ease in his presence. They were nearing her light blue Honda Civic, a small car that fit the chemical engineer rather well.

"Auh," Leon playfully whined, pulling open the driver side door for Cynthia before stepping around the front of the car and getting into the passenger side, "here I was hoping you like something besides my height."

Cynthia laughed, sliding into her seat of the car and starting the vehicle, "of course I like you for more than your height." She leaned over and briefly ran her fingers through Leon's soft blonde hair, "I like you for a lot of things, Leon." She said, blue eyes soft and affectionate. Before either of them realized what was going to happen, it happened. Cynthia kissed him. Like nearly every other time they had kissed, Cynthia jerked back and she straightened up in her seat, focusing on backing out of the parking lot and driving to the warehouse.

Leon looked out the passenger window, focusing his attention on the outside scenery as they drove towards their destination, a little disappointed in the by now, usual, deer caught in the headlights moment. As much as he wished Cynthia was comfortable about the whole kissing thing, he knew she wasn't and that it always spooked and caught her off guard, causing her to abruptly break the contact and run, but she hadn't been running lately, rather, she would try to pretend that it didn't happen, and Leon could only wait patiently for her to completely trust him and to trust that he wouldn't ever hurt her. He had a taste of what it was like when her guard was completely down on her birthday, and for now, he would just have to wait patiently until she was ready.

"I can reach the shelves on my own, I just wanted some company." Cynthia said quietly after a little while, breaking the awkward silence that had been reigning since the short kiss, "and Holly's boring when it comes to things like this." She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and spoke a little shyly, "plus, I'd rather have you with me." Leon didn't shift his attention from his window, taking in the unfamiliar scenes of the new area, but she saw him smile through his reflection on the window.

:)

"How many files are in this place?" Leon asked as they got out of Cynthia's light blue civic, the company's main file warehouse looming up in front of them. "This place is huge!" he exclaimed, staring at the building with his mouth slightly agape.

"Oh, believe me, it's like a maze on the inside." Cynthia sighed, walking into the warehouse after a man unlocked it for them, "It's as big on the inside as it is on the outside, but the inside is stuffed with shelves of files."

:) :) :) :)

The lights went out. Both Cynthia and Leon paused their actions of thumbing through the many files they were looking for, "What just happened?" Leon asked, squinting to see a few feet in front of him.

"The lights just went out," Cynthia replied and Leon struggled to see her faint outline. A moment later her face was illuminated with blue light when she pulled out her phone and checked something, "No service, The phone lines are down." The light from the phone screen vanished, bathing them both in the pitch blackness. "And my phone's dead." Cynthia sighed, "How about yours?"

Leon took out his phone and managed to get it to turn on, giving out enough light to illuminate both of their faces. "Mine has juice… nevermind." He amended as the device turned back off and once again their vision was impaired. "Now I know what Jay feels like," he complained under his breath before squinting and trying to find Cynthia, hearing the rustle of cloth before he heard a liquid being shaken. "What're you doing?"

"Making light," Cynthia replied vaguely and Leon was about to ask what she meant before he got his answer as something started to glow, giving off enough light for them to scrape by with. Cynthia's face was illuminated by the soft yellow light, something was clenched in her palm, a short and stocky vial full of a glowing yellow liquid that she kept shaking.

"What's that?" Leon asked in awe, having never seen her use her knowledge in chemistry before. He could see her face and a decent amount of the rest of her body, he could see his hands in front of him and even his front and his shoes, the light wasn't quite strong enough to completely illuminate the table to his left, it just helped them see the edges of it.

"It's a chemical, I'll tell you about it later." Cynthia replied, hurriedly putting the files they needed into her bag and slinging it over her shoulder, "Go put that box away-" They both heard the sound of footsteps and even the sound of a pebble rolling along the cement floor. "Get down!" She hissed, taking control. Yanking Leon by the front of the shirt, she pulled him down to be hiding with her under the table, tucking the glowing vial beneath her blazer vest, the light most vanished, leaving only a glowing spot on Cynthia's chest that she covered with her arms, trying to hide the light.

"You know what we're here for!" They heard someone hiss, "Find it!"

Cynthia and Leon looked at each other, exchanging glances as they heard the footsteps spread out and they both started carefully creeping towards the door. Cynthia lurched forward, her foot catching the edge of one of the chairs. Leon caught her around the waist and the vial in her pocket slipped out, Cynthia blundered to catch it but missed and the vial shattered on the ground, the glowing liquid splattering all over the ground and lighting up a wide area of the storage room.

"The chemist is here!" Someone yelled, just out of range of the light from the glowing liquid.

"Bloody hell!" Cynthia cursed under her breath and grasped Leon by the wrist before pulling him into the maze of shelves and into the darkness, her heart racing. Pushing him against a shelf they waited with bated breath as someone passed the shelf and kept on going. Cynthia rummaged through her bag for a moment before taking out another vial and vicious shaking it, it glowed a faint green hue before she peeked around the corner and hurtled the vial into a small group of people, the vial shattered with a soft bang and a green gas turned clear before rising into the air from the vial. The poor souls standing near the vial dropped to the ground out like a light.

"Get them!"

"What was that?!" Leon asked Cynthia in complete shock, staring at her faint outline in complete surprise.

"A knockout gas, useful when you're a detective and need a quick getaway." Cynthia replied in a hushed tone before she pulled him along, farther through the maze, "now ssh!"

:)

Cynthia's heart was racing, her breathing slightly labored as they continued sneaking through the maze, it was lucky that she had her arsenal of chemicals with her right now, she didn't usually bring it and when she did it was usually a few for her detective work, but this time something in her gut told her to bring them all, so she had, and it was going to save their lives. 'Unless somehow Ashton is one of them.' She remembered inwardly, 'He knows how to put them all out.' Pulling Leon behind the corner of a shelf she squinted, noticing movement, 'One… two.. No, three, no, four, there's too many to count, more than enough for a fireball.' Pulling out two vials she mumbled under breath as she carefully added a few drops of one to the other, "Knockout gas plus illumination equals…" She capped both vials, and shook the modified one, feeling the glass starting to heat up in her hand. "A small fireball." She hurled it at the floor where she had seen movement before hiding back behind the shelf as a small fireball erupted, lighting the people's clothing but miraculously leaving the files untouched.

"They're over there! Get them!" A flurry of footsteps signaled they were being chased.

"Leon run!" Cynthia pushed Leon forwards towards the door and followed him before being cut off and having to run a different direction, a chill ran down her spine as she heard the telltale sound of a gun's safety going off, a very familiar gun. 'Oh, StarClan.' The sound of the gun was almost enough to make her freeze in her current position, she had seen the barrel of the weapon too many times to count and knew how much it hurt to be hit in the temple with the handle. 'Ashton's here.' Someone tripped her and Cynthia hit the ground hard, landing on her wrist funny, sending pain shooting up her arm. 'No, no, no, come on! I have to get out of here before he find me-!'

"Hello, Cynthia." A cool masculine voice made Cynthia attempt to get up but her wrist twisted painfully and she slid back to the ground, looking up at the half shadowed man in front of her. With the soft light from her illumination chemical, she could see messy light brown hair with random darker areas, icy blue eyes, a tall stature, broad shoulders, and a strong build, which made her gut clench in fear. It was indeed Ashton, the man who had made her life miserable until her parents woke up to his actual personality. For three years she had suffered by his hand, forced to marry him when she turned eighteen and not able to say a word about his true colors from the moment her parents had introduced her to him when she was sixteen and after she turned eighteen.

"A-Ashton," Cynthia said, her voice shaking on the first syllable. Luck wasn't on her side today.

"Did you miss me?" Ashton asked in a low voice as he crouched in front of Cynthia, relishing in the obvious fear in her blue eyes. "Bring the boy over here," He told a dark-skinned man with black hair and dark brown eyes, "tell him I have his partner." Ashton's mouth stretched in a crazed grin and he brushed the back of his fingers over Cynthia's cheek, making a chill go down her spine and causing her to tremble but she didn't dare to move away from him, too locked in her fear to defend herself. "What's his name?" He asked her, keeping the low tone and looking down at her.

"L-Leon Bramble." Cynthia's voice shook but she gave up the name, flinching as he moved to touch her face again.

"good."

:( :( :O :O :O :O :O :( :(

'Where's Cynthia?' Leon noticed Cynthia wasn't behind him and turned to find a bright flashlight shined in his eyes, blinding him. Swinging blindly he felt his knuckles scrape the edge of someone's jaw and punched again, but a little higher, his knuckles connected with someone's face with a loud crunch and he heard yelling in pain to accompany the crunch. He kept swinging blindly, doing his best to fend off the people trying to kill him. A searing pain in his cheek made him freeze and he lifted one hand to the injured cheek and pulled it back, smelling and feeling sticky blood coating his fingers. Baring his teeth he blinked away the spots and slammed his fist into one person's gut, elbowing another.

"Leon Bramble!" Leon froze at the strange voice, unsure how he knew his name. "I have your friend Cynthia over here with me, care to join us? If you don't you might as well start whining about her death right now."

Leon managed to find the person and found Cynthia there was well, the woman was on the ground, staring at the mysterious man with wide fearful blue eyes, obviously, she knew him. "Who are you!" He demanded, anger bubbling in his chest as the other man tugged on the pens holding Cynthia's messy bun.

"You know who I am, boy." the man replied coolly.

"Well, obviously I don't! Who are you?!"

"You don't know?" The man cackled, looking down at the woman at his feet, "You haven't told him?!" he cackled, "You were always a coward Cynthia darling." He maniacally crooned before looking at the younger man, "You naive boy, I am this pretty thing's husband."

Leon scowled and narrowed his eyes, hands tightening into fists as he refused to believe his words. "Yeah right!"

"You don't believe me?" The man mocked a state of shock before pulling on one of Cynthia's ears in a half crazy half playful manner, "You tell him then Cynthia."

Cynthia narrowed her eyes, snapping out of her fearful state, her feisty nature rearing its head. "You were! Not are, you forced me to agree! And you know it."

Ashton rolled his eyes, "You still have my last name darling."

"Since when?!" Cynthia snapped, edging away from him and closer to a shelf, "I've always been a Lawson, not a Ligara!"

"If you want to be stubborn like that then be my guest." He growls at her before shrugging, blue eyes lighting up with an insane fire, "but my son's last name is Ligara like my own."

Leon's amber eyes flash at the mention of Cynthia's toddler son and his hands clench into fists, "His last name is Lawson! Like his mother's! You aren't her son's dad!"

"Then who is?" Ashton drawled, "I am his father by birth, which makes me his dad as you so eloquently put it."

"Has he ever met you?!" Leon snarled, distracting Ashton while Cynthia got to a safe distance, "You are not his dad!"

Ashton's blue eyes flash with anger, "I am his dad! He roared, pointing his gun on Leon.

"Ashton!" Cynthia directed his anger at her, able to withstand it, she was farther away from him than Leon and the shot wouldn't kill her like it would kill Leon. "His name is Flynx Lawson! He has my last name!" Her blue eyes flash, she was baiting him, a dangerous game of baiting to make him attack her and not Leon.

With an angry roar, Ashton didn't notice the other people leaving as the gun went off and Cynthia shrieked before Ashton pulled down the closest shelf to her and she actually screamed before the shelf collapsed on top of her, the sound stopped abruptly as she was knocked unconscious by falling storage boxes. Ashton snarled at Leon before he turned and vanished, leaving the storage room.

"Cynthia!" Leon yelled, running over to the pile of boxes, amber eyes flashing with terror

:) :) :) :) :)

"I love you." Leon murmured a bit nervously, unsure how she would react. After a week of Cynthia recovering from the incident, she was finally back at her house, with Flynx, and under Leon's supervision.

Cynthia's blue eyes widened and she stammered something inaudible, rambling for a moment before covering her face with her hands, her face pink.

Leon smiled softly, trying to calm down her uncertainty and fear at hearing that he loved her, a familiar phrase that always ended up with her physically hurt and emotionally broken. "I'm not Ashton," he spoke quietly, gently taking her hands away from her face before taking them in his own, "I will never do what he did and I'm not in charge of our relationship," his amber eyes softened, "you are. We'll go at whatever pace you want us to."

Cynthia's blue eyes softened and Leon could see flickering traces of love in her blue eyes, an emotion that spurned on his next movement. He cautiously leaned forward towards her and paused, waiting for her to realize what was going on while he studied the faint subtle silver flecks in her sapphire colored eyes. A few moments later he took the no moving away as consent and finished the action, he soundly kissed her, and Cynthia kissed him back.

Cynthia breathed heavily as she paused the kiss to breathe for a few moments. After she finished catching her breath she crashed her lips to Leon's once again, her arms winding around his neck and inadvertently pulling him off balance as she fell backward, her back hitting the couch cushions.

Leon stopped himself from completely falling on top of her, vaguely remembering her broken ribs and healing shoulder, being gentle and giving her the respect she deserved.

:) :) :) :)

"Mama," Flynx mumbled sleepily as he staggered down the hallway into the living room where Leon and Cynthia were, the former was half asleep while stretched out on the couch with her head in Leon's lap, blue eyes mostly closed.

"Mhmm?" Cynthia replied in a murmur, her hands clasped on top of her t-shirt, she found how Leon ran his fingers through her hair strangely nice and relaxing.

"I wanna stay out here," Flynx mumbled, climbing up onto the couch and lying down on the empty spot next to his mother, his eyes drooping closed barely a second later.

"Only if you go to sleep," Cynthia replied, gently ruffling her son's hair with her eyes still mostly closed, one of Leon's hands clasped in her free one.

"Kay Mama," Flynx mumbled and snuggled close to her side, out like a light.

Cynthia adjusted the toddler's blanket without opening her eyes, perfectly content at the given moment, her mind peaceful, lips still tingling from the earlier kiss, the third one that she hadn't run from.

Leon was looking down at Cynthia, gently running one hand through the silky strands of her black hair, his amber eyes soft and loving, after their earlier conversation and intense kiss, Cynthia had actually said she loved him. Of course, afterward she nearly panicked and had no idea what to do with the knowledge and he had to calm her down, but she had said it sincerely and that's what mattered to him.

:) :) :) :) :) :)

Epilog, Sort of…. Okay, it's really just an introduction to the time frame of the second part I'll write… eventually XD

"Leon! Is Flynx nearly ready to leave?" Cynthia asked in a raised tone from where she was sitting at the table in their flat -which was technically Cynthia's- poring over a file for work while Leon was supposed to be getting Flynx ready.

Speaking of which, the toddler, nearly four years old, was finishing pulling his chosen t-shirt over his head and grinning at his not quite stepfather, "See! I can do it, Daddy!"

"Yes!"Leon called back to Cynthia and grinned at Flynx before he ruffled his hair, having paused the tying of his tie to praise the toddler, "good job bud, do you have everything else? Ready to go greet your mama?" Flynx nodded and the adult pulled on his accustom black sports vest with the police logo embroidered on the upper right breast pocket before leading the toddler out of the bedroom and to the dining room where Cynthia was putting a bowl of Flynx's favorite cereal on the table with a spoon.

Flynx climbed into a seat and started munching on the dry cereal, a trait that Leon joked was genetic, since Cynthia hated milk in her cereal too. "Hi mama!" he chirped around a mouthful of cereal.

Cynthia ruffled Flynx's hair, abandoning her file to give her son her attention, "Hi, little one!"

Leon fetched his own bowl of cereal and sat down at the table before he leaned over and greeting Cynthia with a greeting and a kiss, "Hello, Cyn," he smiled before giving her a kiss and speaking through it, "You're looking as beautiful as ever."

Cynthia laughed and playfully pushed Leon after they broke the kiss, "Hey, yourself Leon, full of flattery are we?"

Leon playful winked at her, "It's not flattery when it's true Sunshine."

Cynthia playfully rolled her eyes at him before responding, blue eyes warm and gentle, "I love you, Leon." She said, the phrase now easy and natural to say.

"What about me?" Flynx complained, pouting with big multicolored puppy eyes, "Do you love me?"

Cynthia laughed, getting up and affectionately hugging her son, blowing a raspberry on his cheek, "I love both of you, silly!"

"Yay!" Flynx giggled, "mama loves me too!"

Finally! It's written! :D :D :D :D You guys have no idea how long I've been writing this! :D This is twice as long as any of the other chapters and even twice as long as any Fighting For Love And With Constant Hope chapters! :D :D :D :D :D :D Let me know if you want a sequel that is more focused on the actual case, it was hard to write the relationship between Cynthia and Leon :D :D :D