chapter word count: 483 (ish)
noir heart: forty-six
...and his morning was going so well.
A six o'clock start with arguably the most amazing woman on Earth: his eternal love and wife-of-eighteen-months Thiana Bunnymund - naturally with some passionate intimacy in the shower...hey, they were in the mood - coupled with a decent breakfast and a short jaunt around the corner of Fourth and Nostalgia in the interview room had made for an upbeat Aster Bunnymund.
See, he's one of those optimistic types, the ones that still hope and believe in happy endings despite the darkness, violence and death they see every day, and have learned to keep it hidden under a veil of cynicism. It keeps him grounded, enables him to take joy in all the beautiful things and reminds him that, though there is Evil in the world that does not sleep, there is Good to balance it.
His closest friend, however, is his antithesis. A man that wears his pessimism and distrust like a heavy suit of armour against the world. Where Aster doesn't fear evil as he knows there is equal good, Jack feels that he's already looked into the darkest part of the abyss, so nothing else scares him.
But nothing lasts forever, Jack once mused, and Aster's buoyant morning is no exception; though as he waits impatiently in the men's bathroom, having reluctantly followed Hans' suggestion to meet him there, spending his time pacing the cream linoleum floor and scowling at the ugly cream-and-tan linear tiled walls, he wonders if there's a magic rewind button that'll take him back in time to when Thiana's toned legs were wrapped around his waist, gasping his name in his ear while she tightened around him, rather than remain in the present where he swallows down the sinking dread that erupted as soon as he first heard Hans utter his name in the unit room.
His head dips to check his black leather wristwatch for what feels like the umpteenth time, and with an irritated and disdainful grunt he considers his time fully wasted and turns toward the door...just as it languidly swings open and Hans steps in.
"Sorry to keep you, Detective. I had to make a call that couldn't wait - thank you for your patience." his once-friend smoothly and near-patronisingly drawls.
"Yeah well, you've wasted enough of my time, mate, so get to the point." Aster snaps.
Hans blinks, momentarily taken aback by his abrasiveness, but throws up an insincere smile. "Certainly," he begins lightly, "Detective, you are about to be taken off the Ripper hunt and assigned to the series of double homicides previously investigated by Detectives Hamada and Tomago."
That explains why Gogo's blurred silhouette looked pissed off in the captain's office. His emerald eyes narrowing, he asks the million dollar question, "Why?"
Hans chuckles once. "Simple, really. You and Detective Frost will work together, and along the way you will report his actions to me. Discreetly, I might add."
had to split this one in two, it turned out to be a monster. The fic Jack was referencing was Give It a Chance by OniNoKo. In addition, to answer heartonfire's theory, Jack and Rapunzel never had a child.
special thanks to: jpbake, stefalove, edgar allan snow, oninoko, hornedgoddess and heartonfire for reviewing!