Dead Flowers in LA

…Brenda used the last bit of consciousness to force her head to turn. She found his eyes…Fritz lovely eyes and then she saw his mouth open in a scream that would burn in her memory forever…

A hour before…

"I want to be a part of this!" Brenda demanded. She stood in front of Chief Will Pope's desk and when she finished her tyrant, slammed both hands on the surface of the hard wood. Her chest heaved in deep angry breaths and her eyes burned with fuming anger.

Will blinked once and stared at her in the silence after her words. As he looked over his deputy chief, he saw the reminisce of bruising on her neck, left cheek, and a few cuts that had begun to heal under her left eye. While she looked stern, even held together, Will saw the fear seeping through the cracks that Bill Croelick had left behind. He hated to see her this angry, because when Brenda was angry, things always got done faster in the wrong ways…for good reasons.

"No, Brenda. I cannot in my own right mind…and my professional mind, allow it. You are already his victim, I might add…and the one that got away. You know as well as I do that he does not forget," Will said in a calm voice and his blue eyes mirrored the concern his words held. Brenda did not budge and Will saw her jaw tighten as she continued to stare directly at him. He knew this was not going to be an easy fight to win. Brenda was stubborn and the most determined woman he had even met. That was one of the qualities that he still continued to love about her. He knew that she wanted to bring Bill Croelick down more than anyone else and although he wanted to give that to her…he could not.

"Brenda…" he finally said after the moment of silence became suffocating. "Understand that I don't do this because I don't always appreciate and need the expertise that you provide. I am keeping you from this case so that I don't loose you again…" he paused, saw the look of surprise on her face and fixed his sentence. "What I mean is, so that we don't loose you again. This squad needs you as much as the victims need you. Agent Howard needs you," he added at the end and gave a small smile.

"He did this to me Will! Not you, not Fritz, not any other criminal I have put away! HE did THIS to ME! How can you NOT let me be the one to bring him in." She said, one finger pointing at the wounds on her face. Will adjusted in his stance and swallowed as he looked at his Chief. "How can you stand there, in front of me and tell me no? After everything," she said, shaking her head as lightly as she could so as to not increase the dull throb at the base of her skull.

Will reached out and placed one hand on top of hers on the desk. Brenda looked down for a moment then back up and pulled her hand away. "Don't try to be nice, Will," she said and pursed her lips a beat and then started to turn to leave. "Because nice does not help to bring him in…"

"Brenda!" Will called out to her, hoping to get her to pause. Brenda continued to move and reached for the door. Will saw that she was not going to stop and moved from behind his desk in one fast movement. He reached out for her arm and grabbed it. Brenda jerked her head around and glared at him over her shoulder. He tightened his fingers around the part of her arm that he held when she attempted to jerk it away from him. "Brenda," he said again, this time using the tone that meant he was not in the mood for anymore arguments.

"What!"

"Go home. And that's an order."

"If I don't?" Brenda spat back.

"Then I will have you locked up myself. Here, for as long as it takes."

Brenda's face hardened and trembled with anger that was on the verge of exploding. She pulled her arm again and won. "I don't want to look at you right now," she said and flung the door the rest of the way open and marched through with the staccato of her heels echoing down the hall after her.

"Good!" Will called after her and sighed a breath of relief. For now, at least she would be home and safe. However, he would have a unit placed outside her house for as long as the man was still out there.

Will watched her march down the hall all the way down to the elevators, adjusting her bag on her shoulder more than once. Brenda gave him one last glare as she slammed her palm onto the down button and stepped inside. Once she was alone, she rubbed her palm and stared at the hard metal doors.

Brenda fumbled with the keys to the back door lock and shoved them in once she found the hole. She had stopped on the way home and in fury, had bought a dozen powdered jelly filled doughnuts from the corner store and planned on eating her anger away. She could think of nothing better to do…that and perhaps sex. She sighed and pushed open the door and shut it behind her, making sure to lock it.

"Fritzy…I'm home…" she said to the dimly lit kitchen. She squinted for a moment and then reached behind her to turn on the light. "Fritz?" She said again and walked up to the table, sitting her keys, black purse, and doughnuts down. "You had better not be asleep…" she muttered to herself and moved around the table toward the living room. She was about to call out again when she barely missed tripping over a large mass on the floor. Brenda felt as if time had stopped and the air in her lungs was frozen with it. A man's body in a hoodie was lying face down on the floor; a pool of blood rivered out from beneath his head in the cracks on the floor. Her jaw dropped. "FRITZ!?"…but she was wrong…

Brenda tumbled to the floor and reached for him. Carefully, she touched the back of his head and then his neck feeling for a pulse. At the sound of her voice and then her touch, he moaned and her world began to start again…at least for a brief moment.

"Fritz…oh my god…Fritz?! What happen…" Her words were halted by two strong hands that surrounded her throat and sent her fumbling backwards to get away. Her body was jerked upward as he stood and was pulled along by him. Her feet dangled in the air and she kicked wildly at him, but failed to force him, Croelick, to release her. Her mind screamed but all that came from her mouth was gasped cries for help.

"…release her or I will shoot!" Fritz said, standing from the hall that lead from the bedroom. Brenda would never be able to explain how glad she was to see him.

"You try that, pal, and I will break her neck," Croelick said with malicious intent. He took a half step around to face Fritz with Brenda dangling in mid-air.

"Release her!" Fritz said again and pulled back on the trigger of his gun. Croelick smiled more and cocked his head to the side. His eyes narrowed in a study like fashion.

"Seriously," he asked, "this is how you are going to make it? Seriously? You want to see her die. Ok…I get it! Twisted lovers game…To each their own…" He laughed and shrugged. Croelick turned back to Brenda and meet her angry, scared eyes. "I am sorry, I would have liked to play longer, but your boyfriend wants to play too…and since he is the one with the gun…I say he wins…" He laughed, but had no intention of letting anyone else win.

Brenda used the last bit of consciousness to force her head to turn. She found his eyes…Fritz lovely eyes and then she saw his mouth open in a scream that would burn in her memory forever…

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Present time

She was not sure how long she had been out or how things had turned out just as they were presently. Her eyes jerked open and she screamed as best she could with duck tape covering her mouth. As her vision cleared, she saw Fritz across the table from her, also tied up, and Bill Croelick, sitting between them. Her eyes shifted from Fritz to Croelick. The mad man was smiling and he licked his lips when he moved the end of the gun barrel to stroke across her cheek.

"You look well after this short time," he hissed romantically at her and locked his eyes with hers. "Just keep getting prettier and prettier…"

'Shut up…' her mind said…that her mouth could not. Fritz jerked madly at his restraints, but was stopped by a hard hit with the butt of Croelick's gun. At Fritz's pain, Brenda tore at her restraints with everything she had left. She was determined to end this. Seeing the man she loved, with blood trickling down his face had made that decision for her. It was enough.

She came at Croelick like a mass of bulls in a stampede and would have been successful, had he not aimed and fired his gun at her, hitting her in the shoulder. She went down hard, hit the floor, and rolled to her side. For a brief moment, the pain was mind numbing, but Croelick's words brought her back.

"Get up," he said, standing over her with the gun ready to fire again if she tried anything else. "Hands stay forward and sit down at the table. We have some talking to do."

Brenda did exactly as she was told, but made sure he knew it was not because he had ordered her to do so. She held her shoulder, cupping her fingers tight over the throbbing wound when she sat down. She looked forward to find Fritz's scared and enraged eyes seeking her's out. A single tear fell down her cheek…she hated that tear.

"No no no!" Croelick said and grabbed her chin hard within his fingers and jerked it to look at him. "I am the guest…" he said with a smile and reached up to brush the tear away with his thumb. Brenda was horrified. The rage that began to rise over powered any register of pain and she jerked her face away.

Croelick chuckled at her and aimed the gun barrel at Fritz once he was seated again. "You want him to have a matching wound? Keep resisting this and he will…" he said. Brenda scowled at him, but her emotions could not be blocked out. All she could think of…was Fritz. All she wanted to do…was get him out…all she wanted to do was to kill the man that was turning her life into a terror filled waking dream.

"…so let's talk…"