chapter word count: 620

noir heart: eighty

"What do you mean?"

She sighs, more of a resigned exhalation of breath than anything else. "When you were chasing serial killers, you shut out everything else...and everyone…"

"Rapunzel-"

"...and you had this distinctive smell, like alcohol mixed with old sweat. Like you hadn't washed in days. Every case, same smell. Jack," she pauses, and looks at him. "It took me a while to notice, but you have that exact smell right now. You're on a case, aren't you?"

Her question is so abrupt, it deprives him of a response for a moment - and that's all Rapunzel needs. She looks away, smiling bitterly. "Thought so. How bad?"

Jack slumps back into the sofa, completely deflated. Whatever chance he had with her, he knows is slipping through his fingers. "Bad," he murmurs.

She utters a single chuckle. Rising from the sofa, she bends to pick up her bag. "When you told me you were better, I started to believe you. That's why I let myself kiss you back, because for a happy moment I thought it was all behind us - but now, it's happening again. I'm sorry, Jack. I can't let history repeat itself, or we'll both be hurt."

"Who says it'll repeat itself?" Jack says sharply, glaring at her out of the corner of his eye.

"It's who you are, Jack. Being a detective, fighting the darkness, fighting for justice...it'll always be who you are." she says. Her tone is soft, knowing, resigned, and the way she looks at him dances between pity and acceptance. She sighs. "Before we divorced, I was in a line for groceries behind this woman. She was talking to her...secretary, I think. She was vile. Demeaning. Belittled them, insulted them. The things she said...there was a box of pens by the clerk. I wanted to take one of them and stab it into her throat. Just like that. I wanted to plunge that pen into her throat, through her carotid artery. Watch her bleed to death, stop her treating her secretary like that. I knew exactly where to put the pen so she'd bleed out slow enough for me to watch her die. Didn't even care about the cops. When she was served and left, and it was my turn, the clerk said 'you okay? You look like you wanna kill someone" - then it hit me. All the stuff I saw in the work, in the darkness you brought home, was affecting me. I was so scared. I shouldn't know that. I shouldn't fantasise that. It's not me."

She looks away toward the door. "I'm so sorry, Jack. I shouldn't have come here, and raised your hopes. I just...I wanted to...but as long as that darkness is still with you, I can't be."

He looks down, feeling his heart join his stomach on the floor. In his peripheral vision, Rapunzel makes her way out of his sight to the door. He hears the click of the handle being pulled...but no sound of it being closed behind her. There is, however, another question.

"The woman who came to see me," she asks tonelessly, "she isn't a reporter, is she?"

Without even looking, Jack answers, "No."

"She's dangerous, isn't she?" she asks. Jack doesn't answer.

She laughs, but it's bitter, hollow, mirthless. "We're divorced, we live apart, we have our own lives to live - but no matter where I go, I can't seem to escape your demons, can I?"

And with that, she sweeps out of his apartment and closes the door.

Elsa next. I think, next time, I'll skip writing Rapunzel.

special thanks to: doomstone, lunasnoir, ghost angel14, maravillakatana47, vrupd.1992, jpbake, stefalove, oninoko, himeagain, heartonfire and deadbreath for the reviews!