Ten red drops in varying sizes and shapes formed a trail to the door leading into Malcolm's loft. That, by itself, wasn't that all that alarming. Given the amount of broken glass lining the pavement, it was a safe bet someone cut themselves and did what most people did: flung the afflicted hand around while likely letting some choice words fly.

Finding a larger trail of blood in the inner stairwell, however, caused Sorcha more than a little concern.

Had Mal come home with an injury? Likely. It was her danger prone idiot, after all. He could go to the corner store for bread and mineral water and come back with bruises.

This, though, seemed like an unusual amount of blood. Even for a Bright wound. Sorcha's brow furrowed as she followed the trail up the stairs to the front door.

The open front door.

A gasp escaped before she could stop it. Her eyes blinked wide. Her heart beat a hard tattoo against her rib cage. Malcolm locked that door before they left for work that morning.

She watched him lock it.

Her body went taut as razor wire as she stood there, staring at that open door. Unease slithered into her belly. Crawled along her spine.

Even if Mal came home with an injury, he'd never leave the door open. Even if the injury was a serious one, he'd have pushed the door shut behind him. Something's not right here. She shifted the bag of groceries she carried to her other hand. That door shouldn't be open.

Sunshine chirping shrilly pulled Sorcha forward, fear and concern for the yellow parakeet overtaking her until her rational mind kicked in and ordered her to stop.

To wait.

To think.

Yes, she realized as she chewed her lower lip, it was likely Malcolm was the one who left this trail of blood. It was also just as likely it wasn't him.

She needed to treat the situation as a potentially dangerous one.

Proceed with caution.

The opposite of what her danger prone idiot would do if he was there with her.

"Mal?" she called out in a calm, clear voice. "Mal, are you home?"

No answer came, save for Sunshine chirping more insistently.

"It's okay, Sunshine." She set the bags of groceries down so she could fish in her purse for her phone. "I'm here. You're not alone."

Maybe she's upset because our idiot's up there, she mused as she swiped her thumb across her screen to unlock it. He just can't answer because he's passed out from blood loss.

It wasn't a comforting thought.

Sorcha quickly dialed Gil's phone number. If anybody would know where her danger prone idiot was, it'd be Gil Arroyo.

"Arroyo."

"Is my idiot somewhere near you?"

"Yes, he is." Relief poured through her as she heard Malcolm protest her calling him an idiot in the background. "Is there a reason for why you're calling me and not him?"

"There's a trail of blood leading from outside our building up the stairs into our loft." Sorcha drew in a deep, cleansing breath. Slowly released it. "Our front door is also wide open."

"Wait downstairs," Gil ordered. "I'm going to send a uni... Bright, wait!" A few choice words sounded, along with JT saying something about Bright being a distant cousin of the Flash. An aggravated sigh sounded in her ear. "I better go and catch up with him before he manages to hurt himself."

Sorcha's lips twitched despite the situation. "He's probably already hurt himself."

"Knowing Bright."

The call ended. Sorcha kept her phone in her hand, knowing Malcolm would be texting her at any moment. On cue, the phone buzzed. A smile touched her lips as she glanced at the message.

[How much blood is there?]

Of course that be his first question, she mused as she typed a reply. Mal was nothing if not consistent.

[Want me to take a picture so you can see how much for yourself?]

[Would you?]

An amused chuckle burst from her. Should have known he'd take up that offer. Her reply ended the discussion before it could go any farther. [No]

[Fine. We'll be there in twenty minutes]

[Try thirty, hot stuff. Traffic]

[Can you hear Sunshine?]

The little bird went quiet while she was talking to Gil and that concerned her. If anything happened to the budgie, it'd send Malcolm into a deep, dark spiral.

Her, too, really.

Sunshine was as important to her as she was to Malcolm.

"She's our Bright spot," she told him a few weeks ago. "Our little ray of sunshine when things are dark and gray."

Her phone buzzed again. It'd keep buzzing until she answered.

[She's not chirping like she was] she finally sent back. [I'll see if she'll respond if I call her name]

She did not offer to go up and check. Sorcha considered herself brave, but she wasn't dumb. She didn't run into dangerous situations because she had no regard for her own safety and well-being.

That was her danger prone idiot's schtick.

No, she did what her father taught her to do in this sort of situation: she called the police. Well, she amended as a siren screamed in the distance. I called Gil to check if my danger prone idiot was with him or bleeding out on the floor of our apartment from some injury he acquired while working their current case.

Gil was the one to tell her to wait in the inner stairwell for a uni to come do an open structure check.

Not like he needed to worry about that.

Again, she wasn't her danger prone idiot.

When she was told to wait? She damn sure waited.

How often had she heard Gil chastise Malcolm for not calling for backup? Or waiting for it to arrive?

Plenty.

Her phone buzzed, interrupting her musings.

[Wait for the patrol unit Gil requested to get there and have them check things out]

Her lips twitched as she tapped out a fast reply. [So, don't do what you'd do]

[Very funny]

A patrol unit pulled to a stop in front of the building. Two officers stepped out. Sorcha recognized the dark-haired woman as a rookie by the name of Jablonsky. Dad had been friends with a cop by that name. I wonder if she's his granddaughter.

Not that she asked.

There were more concerning things to deal with at this moment. Her phone buzzed again but she ignored it and smiled at the officers.

"Ma'am," the male officer said as he came towards her. "Lieutenant Arroyo requested a search of the property because of suspicious activity. Can you tell us why he made that request?"

"I found a trail of blood here in the inner stairwell." She waved towards the open door at the top of the stairs. "And found the inside door wide open."

"And it wasn't that way when you left?"

"No." Sorcha was adamant about seeing Malcolm close and lock it. "I was with my friend when he locked it this morning."

Why she called Malcolm her friend rather than her boyfriend, Sorcha didn't know. They decided to stop dancing around each other and start dancing with each other after the Black Cat Ball. So, why didn't I call him my boyfriend?

Old habits, she wondered as her phone buzzed again. Or was she protecting their privacy?

She suspected it was a mixture of the two.

"And you don't think your friend came home at any time after you left?"

"That's why I called Lieutenant Arroyo. To make sure Malcolm was with him," she explained at the officer's quizzical look, "and not upstairs injured."

"Is there anyone you can think of who could have entered the premises without your knowledge?"

"Mrs. Whitly and her daughter." Sorcha saw the look they exchanged. Read their looks and silently cursed her stupidity. Great, now they believe this is just another bit of Whitly drama. "Neither would have left the door open."

"Wait here, ma'am."

Not like he needed to tell her that. Sorcha had no intention of following them upstairs. Not until she knew there was nobody waiting to cause her or anyone else who walked through that door irreparable harm.

They paused at the top of the stairs. Their hands drifted to their hips.

"Police— we're here to do an open structure check!"

The only response was aggravated chirping from the bird inside. Sorcha breathed out a sigh of relief as Sunshine fussed. The parakeet was okay if she could set up such a ruckus. Her phone buzzed in her hand. She read the bunch of messages Malcolm sent while she spoke with the officers.

[Did you know human blood has about 0.2 milligrams of gold in it?] was followed by:

[Blood isn't always red. Some worms and leeches have green blood while some species of marine worms are violet] and:

[Spiders have blue blood]

And finally: [We're five minutes away. Has the unit arrived yet?]

Sorcha shook her head as she typed a quick reply and sent it. Nervous energy sizzled in every word he typed. Mal was a bundle of energy on a normal day. She once teased he fluctuated between being the golden snitch one minute and the bludger the next.

Not that he understood what she meant. Not until we watched the Harry Potter trilogy, she amended as two unmarked cars pulled up behind the patrol unit. Malcolm was out of the first car before it even came to a complete stop.

"Have they found anything?"

She shook her head. "They went inside just before you arrived."

Malcolm's eyes dropped to the blood dotting the concrete outside the outer door. His brow furrowed and he made to walk around her but Sorcha hooked his arm to stop him.

"Mal."

He glanced at her. "What?"

"Let them do their job."

"But..."

"You're the complainants here, Bright."

Sorcha mouthed, "thank you," at Dani with a grateful smile. Not that Malcolm appreciated the detective's timely interjection.

"I can help." He huffed a sound that was equal parts annoyance and frustration. "I can look at the blood trail and determine..."

"Let them handle it, kid." Gil's hand settled on the back of Malcolm's neck. "Okay?"

"I'm not going to interfere." Bright sent an imploring look at him. "C'mon, Gil, this is nothing."

"Bright," Gil said in a tone Sorcha recognized as the one a father constantly having to deal with his rambunctious brood tended to use. "If it was nothing they'd have already given the all clear."

"That's why you should let me look at the blood trail."

Gil was spared from having to reply when one of the officers called down, "Ma'am, do you have a cat?"

"A cat?" Bewildered, Sorcha moved to the stairs. "No, we don't have a cat. Just the little parakeet in the cage." Who was angrily chirping now. "Why?"

"Because it looks like a cat got inside your apartment and brought its dinner with it."

Sorcha didn't want to even consider what sort of dinner the feline might have brought with it. Malcolm, on the other hand, seemed quite interested at this turn of events.

"Was it a rat or a pigeon?"

Sorcha side-eyed him. "Why are you even asking that?"

"Because it's something weird," came from JT as he joined them in the inner stairwell. "Like him."

His wry comment went over Malcolm's head.

Like it always did.

"She usually brings in mice."

JT snorted. "No usually about this, man."

Bright bounded up the stairs. "Well, she's also snuck in the occasional bird."

"She?" Sorcha glanced at the others before she followed him up the stairs. "Mal, what do you mean by she?"

"I've been trying to get her to come inside but the closest she'd come was the inner stairwell." Annoyed chirping punctuated Sunshine's opinion on the matter. "It's okay, Sunshine, Selina won't hurt you."

Behind her, JT sighed. "As if his skinny ass can't get no weirder."

"Why do you say that?" Dani queried as she carefully stepped over the pile that one of the officers thoughtfully covered with a napkin. "Selina seems like a normal enough name. For Bright, anyway."

Sorcha walked over to calm Sunshine. "It's Catwoman's real name, actually."

"He named a cat after a Batman character?"

"Our other cat was named Harvey."

"Other cat?" Dani said at the same time that JT did, "Harvey?"

"We took in a white cat back when we were in school," she explained as Sunshine chirped, happy to finally be receiving attention. "Named him Harvey."

"Cause you were attending Harvard?"

"No." Dani and JT both looked questioningly at Gil. He sent a warm smile at Sorcha. "It's because Harvey is one of their favorite movies."

"Bright watches old movies?" JT shook his head. "Never would have imagined it."

"He was into Hong Kong cinema at the time I met him," Sorcha said as feet crossing the floorboards echoed over their heads. "He introduced me to Jackie Chan and Jet Li and I introduced him to Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart."

"Yeah, because that's what couples do."

"We're a couple, alright." She flashed a playful grin at them. "Of loons."

"Here she is!" Bright announced as he came down the stairs that led to the second level of the loft. "She was curled up on your bed asleep."

"I have fluffier blankets is why," she joked before she walked over to investigate the ball of sable fur he held. Eyes a shimmery shade of blue met hers before the feline buried her face back against his arm. "She's just a baby from the looks of her."

"She's a seal point because her nose and the pads of her feet are dark brown."

Sorcha's lips twitched. "Is that what you were looking up on my iPad this morning? What her color points are?"

"No, I was ordering things we'd need for her if she ever decided to come in and stay in."

"That why your front door was left wide open?" came from JT. "Cause that's one mystery that ain't been answered."

"The answer for why the front door was left open is over there." Gil waved a hand towards a monstrosity made out of dark wood covered in royal blue sitting in one corner of the living room. "Seems whoever delivered her majesty's cat tree didn't close the door all the way."

"Allowing the cat to get in," Dani said with a slight nod. "Right."

"I asked Ainsley to let the company delivering what I ordered in on her lunch break."

He looked so happy that Sorcha couldn't be angry at him. Mal happy, truly happy, was so extremely rare. And incredibly precious whenever it happens.

"Why didn't you ask me to come home and wait for the delivery?"

"I wanted her to be a surprise." His eyes met hers. "Is she?"

"Yes." Sorcha brushed a soft kiss to his lips. "She's a very welcome surprise." His smile brought out his dimples. "She's a wonderful new addition to our family, in fact."

A bird chirping behind her said she didn't think so. Sorcha understood why Sunshine wasn't so thrilled with their houseguest. Gonna take work to create harmony between the two.

"Why didn't you say something down at the precinct?" grumbled JT. "Wouldn't have had to rush over here thinking we'd find a dead body in the middle of your kitchen."

"I didn't know it was Selina." Malcolm ran a hand down the cat's glossy fur. "She's never come this far inside. Not until today, anyway."

"Investigating a rat killing." JT shook his head as he headed for the exit. "Like things with you ain't weird enough."

"Pigeon, actually."

"I'm out," was JT's reply.

A/N: Hello, all, and welcome! This is set after Back at One in terms of timeline events for those reading any of my other works. It's my third entry for Bad Things Happen Bingo for the prompt: Blood Trail.

If you like this piece, please favorite/bookmark/kudo it! Also, comments are welcome! Thanks for reading and take care!