chapter word count: 486

noir heart: forty-four

A quick check of his watch confirms the worries that have been slowly gnawing from the back of his mind, having been pushed aside by the trip down memory lane - ten forty-five. For someone who was only supposed to drop Elsa to a safe place of residence, he's a little guilty of allowing time to fly.

"I should get back to work," he announces curtly, "I've already spent too long here."

He turns away from the nursery's doorway whilst scratching his left temple, and it's in that moment Anna chooses to fire off another question - "Out of curiosity, Detective...what makes you think I didn't do it?"

Jack stops and turns just enough to give her a look that screams she either asked the stupidest question ever, or she's from another planet. "Don't be ridiculous," he snaps in exasperation, "you're eight months pregnant."

Folding her arms, she purses her lips and glares at him with a fire that would incinerate ordinary men if they cared - which luckily, he doesn't.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Jack rolls his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose. "Few years ago, there was an investigation into an attempted kidnapping - the victim was a woman who was around seven weeks pregnant. When she tried to run, the perp caught up with her and began to assault her - thing is, her priority was protecting her baby, so she curled up and covered her abdomen while he kicked her over and over."

Anna's eyes widen slightly as she quietly gasps in horror. "What happened?" she whispers like a child enraptured.

"Someone intervened, so she suffered only a few minor injuries, but because she stepped up, the baby was unharmed...Mrs. Bjorgman," he pauses to extend a single finger and hold it before him, "a mother's first instinct when in danger is to protect her offspring. That's how I know…"

Whether he means it or not, his face becomes stern as a judge as he fully turns to face her, and he challenges, "...or are you telling me you'd risk injury to yourself and your unborn kids, or risk giving birth to them in prison while serving twenty-five to life?"

Anna's face drains of colour until it's almost as white as his hair, her eyes widen to their limit in fear, and her hands instinctively wrap themselves around her bump. Hell of a way to make his point, but her silence means she received it loud and clear, even if it did scare the crap out of her.

"I didn't think so." he grunts, turning his back on her, and proceeds to mutter irritably under his breath as he heads to the cream-carpeted stairs.

Putting children in dangerous situations is a surefire way to earn Jack's wrath, no matter who you are.

the first to guess the fic Jack is referencing and who wrote it gets 1 x internet. Redeemable at all good Al's Toy Barn outlets in the tri-county area. Many thanks to that special person for giving me permission, and I hope I did you proud.

I keep hearing about OGaV, so I'm mentioning this again: my laptop is still out of commission, and I physically can't type 8-10k words on a phone, so until it is repaired, noir heart will be the only one updated.

When it does get repaired, in addition to updating OGaV I hope to be putting out some oneshots: "Circling the Outer Rim" (Star Wars Jelsa, running parallel to The Force Awakens), "A Demon In the Sheets" (Jelsa smut), "bro/ken" (angsty, breakup oneshot), and a high school oneshot where Jack, shockingly, is NOT a popular, bad boy player.

special thanks to: heartonfire, somerandomperson, stefalove, jpbake, oninoko, hornedgoddess, twilightlover127, edgar allan snow and fantasy oh yea for reviewing!