How You Live
Syd studied the face lying next to hers in concern as Jack slept. Today had not been a good day for him and what made it worse was that there was nothing she could do to help. Most of the time Jack enjoyed his job, lived for it almost, but sometimes no matter how hard he tried, no matter what he did, he couldn't help and those times left him either angry or depressed. Today had been one of the depressed days. A young girl, barely into her teens, had made her way to the shelter only to be taken away a couple of days later by social services returning her to her parents. Jack had fought as hard as he could to keep the girl there, arguing that if the situation had been bad enough to run away from she shouldn't have to go back, but in the end he'd failed when social services had slapped him with a court order. This morning the girl been pulled out the river. Jack, of course, blamed himself, certain that if he'd done more, fought harder, then she wouldn't have died, and nothing anyone said, herself included, had any effect. She didn't envy the next people from social services who arrived at the shelter - the normally cordial relations had been strained and only time would tell if they'd been strained too far.
She traced a finger along Jack's jawline, a small measure of comfort that she could only hope would help because, despite everything, it hurt to know that, upset as Jack was, it wasn't new for him. While sometimes it was easy to forget, hidden behind easy smiles and casual lounging, Jack had lived in a violent world for most of his life, and any time when he hadn't was hidden away with parents faces and birthdays, blurred memories at best. Joining SPD hadn't changed that, it had simply changed the battles he was fighting, changed it into a war he was on the front lines of.
It wouldn't change either, she thought sadly. Jack's life would always be fringed by violence, albeit indirectly, dealing with the aftermath. As he twitched in his sleep, Syd ran her thumb over his cheek and left a gentle kiss on his chin as she lay back and tried to get some sleep herself.