Detective Jessica Angell made her way up the elevator to the fourth floor of the apartment building. The elevator dinged, and she stepped off, making her way to apartment 4B – that had Officer Charles sitting outside of it. She stifled a laugh as she saw Charles start to nod off. Jess went over and tapped him on the shoulder, and he jolted awake.
"Flack would kill you if he saw you sleeping on the job," Jess told him. He nodded, and she knocked on the door. Martinez answered.
"Detective Angell," he said with a smirk, "Come to join the party?"
"Not on your life, Martinez." Jess walked in and didn't see Kate anywhere. "Where is she?"
"Went to the bathroom."
"Trying to escape from you, I'm sure."
Martinez smirked. Kate came limping out of her bathroom and seemed happy to see Jess. "Oh, thank God. Can you send him somewhere, Jess? He's pissing me off and I'm seriously considering throwing him out the window," Kate said.
Jess smiled at her friend. "Martinez, go get some coffee for you and Charles."
Martinez gave a mock salute, and left. Jess rolled her eyes again and went over to give Kate a huge. "How are you doing?" she asked.
"I'm fine. If Don would just let Officers Charles and Martinez go home instead of creeping on me, I'd be even better. Any chance you can talk to him?"
Jess smiled sadly at her friend. "Sorry. He's bent on making sure you have full protection. It's kind of sweet."
"Yeah, sweet my ass. He's being over-protective and it's pissing me off."
"If it makes you feel better," Jess said, sitting down on the couch with Kate, "He's pissing everyone else off too, trying to find the guy who did this. He's been yelling at everyone and is forcing everyone in the lab and the precinct to work on this case and only this case." Kate nodded, seeming to like this. As much as she put up her "I can protect myself" front, she liked that Don was out there trying to set things right. "So," Jess continued. "I thought Don's sister was here with you."
"Yeah," Kate said. "I made her leave though. She was tired and I do have two cops looking after me, after all. Oh my God, I'm so sorry Jess. This must be such an imposition for you. Can I get you something to eat or drink?"
Jess smiled and shook her head. "No, thanks, really. And it isn't an imposition, I'm glad to do it. You're my friend too. Oh, and your sister was going crazy earlier; you might want to call her." Kate nodded, and Jess continued. "So, you wanna talk about what happened? Get it out of the way?"
Kate repeated the same story she had told Sam to Jess, with Jess nodding sympathetically and writing down everything Kate said. "Could you get a description of the guy? Any tattoos, weird piercings or scars?"
Kate thought a moment. "Well, it was pretty dark. But, I'm pretty sure he had a scar on his right cheek, a-and maybe an ear piercing."
"OK, that's great. You did good. Is there anything else you can tell me?"
"Nope, nothing. Just that he said that I would pay for Don's mistake, which I can't figure out."
"Don't worry, we will. Are you OK, really? Don said you were pretty shaken up."
"Well, I'm trying my hardest to be OK. It was scary, I'm not denying it. But I just want you to catch him, and I'd also like to know what Don's mistake was. I'm having a hard time trusting him right now."
Jess put her hand on Kate's. "Trust me, Don didn't do anything wrong. This mistake is all in this psycho's head, OK? I know Don, and so do you. You know he couldn't have done anything wrong."
Kate nodded. "You're right. Thanks, Jess."
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After much persuading from just about everyone he knew, Don was forced to go home. But he knew he couldn't go home to his home; so he wound up at Kate's apartment. He saw Charles still sitting outside, and Don took pity on the young man.
"Hey, Charles."
"Hey, Flack. You get the guy yet?"
Flack shook his head. "Not yet, but we will. Listen, you can go home now. I'll take over for the night, and I got a couple officers stationed outside the building. Thanks for everything."
"My pleasure, Flack." Charles couldn't help the smile on his face as he left. Flack was happy at that.
He knocked on the door, and Martinez answered. After seeing it was safe, Martinez let Flack in. Don saw Kate sitting on the couch watching TV, totally oblivious to anyone other than whoever was on the screen. "How's she been?" Flack asked.
Martinez shrugged. "Seemed fine to me. She made us dinner, spent a lot of time watching TV or reading magazines. Detective Angell spent some time here, and that seemed to make her happy. I put extra locks on the windows, just in case."
Flack rubbed his tired face. "Thanks, Martinez. You can go home now, I got it under control." Martinez nodded, and walked off.
Flack threw his jacket over the breakfast nook, and loosened his tie. He unbuttoned his sleeves, rolling them up, and unbuttoned the top button on his shirt. He noticed that Kate didn't look up once. He sighed, being very tired, and walked over to sit next to her on the couch. She didn't look at him. He took the time to look at her, taking her in. She had a bandage on her forehead, and the one on her ankle. Her straight, brown hair was in a ponytail, and she was wearing a pair of sweatpants and a zip-up hoodie. She was adorable.
"How are you?" he asked, thinking that was a good place to start. She just nodded, signifying she was OK. "How's the ankle?"
"It's fine."
"Why isn't it up?" he asked, noticing it wasn't elevated like the doctor said it should be.
She shrugged. "Didn't feel like it."
Flack sighed. "You gotta keep it up, Kate."
Kate got off the couch. "I'm going to bed."
Don rolled his eyes. "You gotta take better care of youself, Kate! Your ankle needs to be up, and you need to be taking your pain pills; I know you're not."
Kate turned on him. "Don't tell me what to do! I'm not a child, Flack, I can certainly take a pill by myself. I wasn't in any pain."
Flack shot up from his spot on the couch. "That's bull, and you know it. Every time I come near you, you flinch in pain. You need to take them, Kate, they'll help."
"Maybe it's not the pain; maybe it's you. Ever think of that?"
Flack hesitated, slightly shocked by her comment. "You know what, I'm done with this. I wanna know right now why you're acting this way."
Kate looked at him, hands on her hips. He didn't back down. "Just forget it," she said. "I'm going to bed."
She grabbed one of her crutches that was leaning against the couch, but Flack grabbed it first and threw it behind him. "No. You're not going anywhere until we settle this. I'm not going another minute without knowing what the hell is wrong with you."
Tears sprang to Kate's eyes. For the first time all day, she felt the pain in her ankle and her ribs that the doctor was talking about. She was standing on one ankle and saw that Don really wasn't backing down. She started to shake, not being used to standing on one foot while in great pain before. "Can I please have my crutch?" she asked.
"After you tell me what's bothering you."
The tears actually started to fall down Kate's face. "Donnie, please. It hurts."
Don realized that she really was in pain, and guilt flooded him instantly. He ran to her, and she fell into his arms. He lifted her up easily, and carried her to her bedroom as she softly cried. He laid her down gently, and brushed some tears off her face. "I'm gonna get your pills, OK? I'll be right back." He kissed her forehead softly, and ran off to get the pills.
He found them sitting on the breakfast nook, probably from when she had first gotten home. He took out the recommended dosage, grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, and went back into Kate's bedroom. She was laying on the bed, clutching her chest, crying, and breathing heavily. Don went to her and helped her sit up. Once sitting, he helped her take her pill, constantly brushing hair off her forehead and tears off her face. After taking her pill, Don helped her lay back down.
"Hey, how you feeling? Huh? You OK? What hurts, baby, tell me," Don said to her, rubbing his hands up her sides.
"M-my ribs hurt. And my ankle. And my head," she said softly.
"OK, OK." He ran his hands under her shirt to her chest, and when he felt the bandage he rubbed gently. She gasped in pain, and he stopped. "I'm sorry." She blew out a shaky breath, and he apologized again. "Just don't touch it," she said. "Just don't leave me. Please."
"Never, I swear it." He kissed her forehead again, and just held her to his chest as she continued to softly cry and clutch her chest.
