Antonia drove her car, setting her GPS for the crime scene. She had checked the weather, and the storm wasn't expected to hit until the following morning. The roads were clear and very quiet, and it made for an easy ride through the city for a change. Her phone was quiet, but mostly because the driver that had been following her the entire time didn't have her cell phone number, although he did have the ability to flash his brights and took full advantage of that. She flipped the rear-view mirror and ignored it. She even ignored his attempt to slow her down on the highway, willingly driving 40 miles an hour until she got sick of it, and she'd speed around him quickly, losing him in her dust for a few minutes, until he'd make up the pace and catch up. She wished he'd just give it up, turn around and go home.
Eventually he did give up trying to stop her, driving closely behind her, he simply followed her as she got off the highway and entered suburbia. After suburbia, they entered the snowy back roads of where their crime scene was located. The woods seemed darker, more ominous, and though there were some flecks of snow falling from the sky, it wasn't the storm they were expecting. She turned onto the long, windy road where their crime scene was located, and she watched the headlights behind her do the same, rolling her eyes. She could see that it hadn't snowed much here since they last been there two days earlier, and for that she was grateful.
She pulled down the gravel drive, and pulled the car into park, taking a minute to look at her phone as she checked for messages, she saw the lights of his car as he pulled close to her, blocking her in, and then the car turned off, leaving his headlights on. She continued looking at her phone, until she heard knocking on her window. Even though she expected it, she still jumped. "What?" She shouted, looking at Aiden's angry expression.
"Don't give me that!" He exclaimed. "Get out of the car!"
"No." She said, starting to feel a twist of guilt in her stomach as she watched him stare into the car angrily.
"Antonia, I swear to God. If you don't open this car door…" he exclaimed.
"What? If I don't open this car door you'll what?" She yelled, tossing her phone onto the seat next to her, she left the lights of the car on. "I don't take kindly to threats."
"I don't take kindly to being forced to go to a crime scene in the middle of the night when I haven't had any sleep!" He exclaimed.
She started to open the door, and he moved to the side, grabbing it with his hand, he opened it completely and held it open so she couldn't close it. "Nobody told you to come out here with me." She said angrily. "I could do this on my own, I don't need a babysitter, or some big FBI agent to be my hero."
"That's right." He nodded angrily. "You don't. Because you're not your mother." He said, turning on his heel, he walked back toward his car.
Her jaw hung open for a moment, and she leapt from her seat, standing defensively beside her car. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" She shouted at his retreating form, slamming her car door, she stalked toward him.
Just as she got close to him, he turned sharply, and she nearly ran into him. "You know perfectly well what that means." He growled, pointing his finger in her face. "You don't give an inch, do you? You think because you're so smart, that you can talk yourself into or out of anything. Well you know what you can't talk yourself out of, Antonia? Do you know what you wouldn't be able to save yourself from? It's the goddamned fact that two nights ago, there were four punks in a car who shot a fucking cop, and then drove their goddamned car to this very spot, at a time very much close to what it is now, and shot another person, before rolling their fucking car into that pond over there! Murderers, Antonia! There are goddamned murderers out there, and they don't give a shit how smart you are. They don't give a fucking damn who your mother is, or who your father is. They will shoot you just as dead as that kid that we found in that car. You're not invincible!"
Antonia stood for a moment staring at Aiden, his face was red and angry, that much she could see in the headlights of the car. Her head tilted. "Invisible?" She whispered, her face suddenly pale and confused. She looked as though she had seen a ghost.
"No. Invincible, Antonia." He said, his voice becoming softer when he saw her confusion. It was clear that she hadn't processed what he had said. "You're not invincible. Are you okay?"
She closed her eyes for a moment, swallowing hard. She felt a little dizzy, and took a step back leaning on the car. "I don't feel very well." She whispered.
Aiden took a step back, giving her some room, but ready to catch her if she fell. He finally took a moment to look around. "Open the car door, sit in the car." He said softly.
"No." She shook her head. "It'll pass." She said softly.
He rested his hand on the car, leaning over her for a moment, he watched her open her eyes, staring directly into his. "Are you okay?" He asked.
"Are you done yelling at me?" She asked, her voice now softer and less defensive.
"For now." He said, looking around. "Why did you have to come out here now?"
"Because the storm is coming, and I need to find something." She said.
"You're not going to find the weapon, Antonia. They either still have it with them, or its at the bottom of the pond." He said, watching her.
"No, not the gun." She said, ducking under his arm, she moved around the car. He followed her around, and watched her open the door, pulling her field bag over her shoulder, she pulled out a flashlight, taking care not to blind him with it. "I need to find where he was shot."
"And how are you going to find that?" He asked, watching as she started looking up at the trees with the flashlight, following them down.
"That's easy." She said, "Follow the evidence." She then started walking away from him without explanation.
"I don't know what that means." He said, rolling his eyes, he flicked on his own flashlight and followed after her.
"It means that after looking at the body, there were things that I noticed, that are important for solving the case, Agent Fitzgerald."
"I hate when you do that." He muttered, following after her, she turned and flashed the light in his face. "Jesus! Don't do that!" He exclaimed, and she pulled the flashlight down, muttering an apology.
"What?"
"The flashlight, don't shine the flashlight in my face." He said, irritated with her faux aloof attitude, he stopped walking with her for a second, and rubbed his eyes.
She turned around and faced him. "No, I mean what do you hate?"
"I hate when you call me Agent Fitzgerald like that, like it's some sort of name you call a child when they're in trouble. It's like saying my full name, including my middle name." He said, sighing.
"I don't know what your middle name is." She stated simply, and continued her perimeter search around the pond and crime scene. She heard him grunt in irritation, and he continued to follow after her.
"It's Michael." He muttered.
She didn't acknowledge what he had said, and continued walking, shining the light up the trees again and again. "This stand of white pines." She said, pointing at the tall trees that stretched to the darkness of the sky. Her feet crunched on the snow, and she kept her eyes on the ground for a moment, stopping.
"What about them?" He asked, watching as she worked, ignoring his questions, she was in her zone. She reached down near the bottom of one of the trees and picked up some leaves, looking at them closely. "What are we looking for?" he asked.
She stood up and turned to face him, her eyes were filled with irritation. "This is going to get done a lot faster if you'd shut your trap and let me work." She snapped. She expected him to be offended, but he simply narrowed his eyes at her. "Don't look at me like that, nobody invited you here, you're just my dad's little puppy dog, following me around. You probably don't trust me to gather evidence, like every other damn puppy my dad has brought along with him." She grumbled, crouching down at the base of the tree. Aiden stayed silent. "I bet you even called him on your way here." She mumbled.
"It's your turn to shut your trap." Aiden responded.
Antonia stood up quickly and stepped forward into him, ready for a fight. She watched him back up, but his eyes were still defiant. "If all you're here for is to keep me safe, you can go sit in the car." She snipped and turned, her losing her footing on the slope, she started to slide, and then felt two arms around her, pulling her up into him, she instantly pulled away from him, and almost fell again, instead grabbing hold of him for a moment. She held onto his coat, her face against his shoulder as she looked up, his eyes were on her tenderly. "Sorry." She muttered, trying to find her footing, she slowly let go of him.
He took a deep breath, trying to be patient. "So what evidence are we looking for?"
"Blood." She said, watching her step, she looked up another tree or two, and then around one tree to another.
"We're not going to find blood, it's been snowing here for the past two days."
"If he was shot in this thick area of trees, then there will be blood on one of the tree trunks." She explained, her feet drawing her down another hill, she heard him following after her, grabbing her arm as she started to slide again. "Thanks." She whispered. "There was bark in his head wound."
"White pine bark." He stated, catching her eyes in the glow of the flashlight, she nodded. They took a few more steps, and she examined a few more of the trees. "Antonia, if we don't find anything, I swear…"
"Will you please just shut your snack hole!" She said, turning around, she let the flashlight hit his face again, and he blocked it with his arm.
"Stop it!" he exclaimed.
"Then stop yammering, and start looking around!" She whispered angrily.
He scowled at her, and sighed, turning toward the left, he started examining the trees as well. Antonia took a few more steps into the woods, just a little deeper, when she noticed discoloration on one of them. She could see also that there was chipping and splintering of the trunk. Aiden noticed that she was taking interest in one of the trees and quietly made his way toward her. She looked to see him walking up beside her, and then reached into her bag for gloves. She put a pair on herself, and handed him a pair, as well as a couple of evidence bags. He held the flashlight on the tree as she pulled out a pocket knife and started peeling pieces of bark from the tree where it was discolored. She placed it in the bag, and zipped it, probing the trunk with her fingers. She stood on her tiptoes and noted a bullet hole, dipping the knife into the hole, she dug at it lightly with the knife, as a bullet popped out into her hand. She looked to Aiden and lifted an eyebrow, to which his response was simply a shake of his head. He held out another evidence bag and she dropped it inside. They took a couple of steps back, looking around the scene, trying to determine where the shooter had been standing, assessing the site carefully. Antonia leaned down carefully and picked up a stray cigarette butt or two from the ground, placing them in an evidence bag, and settling it in her bag with the other evidence bags they had collected. She glanced to Aiden, who was staring at the tree, seemingly lost in thought. She turned and continued her search for evidence.
A few snowflakes started falling, and the wind started picking up slightly. Aiden watched her trudge slowly around the scene, her eyes focused on the ground for any shred of evidence. "Hey, it's starting to snow."
"Good job, weather boy." She muttered sarcastically, smirking at his glare.
"It means we should go. It's late."
"Technically it's early." She said, glancing at her watch, she received another glare. "Nobody is keeping you here, Agent Fitzgerald." She said, continuing her search on the ground. "You can go."
"I'm not leaving you here." He said, his voice resolute.
"This isn't the first crime scene, Aiden. It's also not the first time that I've been at a crime scene alone. I don't need a babysitter. It's fine, you can go." She said, still running her flashlight across the ground, she noticed that the snowflakes were coming down at a faster rate. She sighed as she felt the bitter wind biting at her face. Her teeth chattered a bit as she bent down to take a look at another spot.
"You're cold." He sighed. "Come on, Antonia. There's nothing else out here." He watched her eyes glare at him and rolled his own.
"You are the biggest baby." She muttered.
"I'm not a baby, I'm practical. Being out here in sub-freezing temperatures at three in the morning is not my idea of a good time."
"Well what's your idea of a good time then?" She asked, looking up at him, he pulled himself further into his coat and avoided eye contact. She walked up to him and pulled her gloves off, looking at him as she tried to get him to look at her. "Aiden?"
"What?" He looked at her and watched as she tilted her head.
"Why are you really out here?" She asked, watching him carefully as he shivered a bit. "Why?"
"You are stubborn, pig-headed, persistent, obstinate…" He grumbled, watching her eyes as a smile rose on her lips.
"All very good synonyms." She said with a nod. "Did you bring your thesaurus?" She asked, getting even closer. He could feel her warm breath on his face as their noses nearly touched, she swallowed hard. "Are you okay?" She whispered, noticing that his breathing had changed slightly.
He swallowed hard, staring into those dark eyes. "I'm actually feeling kind of dizzy." He whispered.
"Did you run out of words?" She asked, feeling her heart beating rapidly in her chest, the cold she had been feeling moments ago was almost gone.
"Yes." He said.
"Good." She whispered. "Maybe now you'll be quiet." She started to take a step back, but he had grabbed her coat with his hand. "What?" she whispered.
"I came out here with you, because if something happened to you, I'd never be able to forgive myself." He said simply.