"First off, I'd like to thank you both for taking care of me. And I'm sorry for calling you a poor doctor, I know you're one of the best doctors around – " Jackson seemed confused, but never the less pleased.
"And you're noting going to believe half the stuff that I tell you, I'm letting you know that now. Honestly if I were you I wouldn't believe half of what I'm getting ready to tell you either if I were you, but it's the truth." Reid was now sat behind his desk and leaned forward slowly, folding his hands together.
"I'll know if you're telling the truth." His eyes were glistening, they only did that when he felt empathy for who he was speaking to, to the people he wished to help. I took a small breath and looked out the window, trying to think of the best way to explain everything. I noticed just how dark it was outside right now and I begun to wonder for how long I had laid in Reid's office.
"My name is Emma Smith. I'm from another world. I was brought here to help you in your quest to find your daughter, Mathilda Reid." I turned back to look at Reid.
His mouth was agape and I didn't know what he'd do after I just explained myself. And it seemed like Jackson, who was standing in the corner didn't know what to expect after that little confession either.
"How do you know her name?" I closed my eyes, knowing that he'd ask that question.
"I know because from where I am from – we watch your world as a type of form of… entertainment. It's like a story that's told, you could say if you wanted to put it into better terms. I know certain things about you, and you – " I said nodding toward Jackson, who raised a brow. I then turned back to Reid.
"I know about your accident – the boat. I know about – events and how horribly you felt about them." I felt my emotions getting the better of me and I had to clear my throat, feeling that tears starting to gather in the corners of my eyes.
I took a moment trying to compose myself and was silently thanking Reid that he allowed me to do so. I wiped my eyes, feeling my fingers damp from the tears that almost slipped.
"I'm here to help. I know you don't have any right to believe me. Call me crazy if you want. But, I cannot return home until I've completely my mission – with your permission or not." Reid seemed to be having slight problems controlling his emotions as well at this moment.
How could I blame him? I'm talking about his daughter that he'd been searching for since that tragic day. I noticed he looked over to Jackson and the man left the room without anything having to even be said. Once the door closed, Reid fiddled with his suit like he did when he didn't know what else to do.
"I want you to know that if you are trying to play a game here – " I stood up from my chair, causing his deep voice to quiet. I walked around his desk and his wide eyes followed my every move. I came to his left side and my hand reached out and he seemed to try to back up as his hand reached out and grabbed my wrist to stop me from reaching out any further.
"What are you – "
"Here. It fell on you right here and burned your skin. That day on the boat." It must have been in shock, because Reid's grip loosened and allowed my hand to continue forward and I placed my hand softly on his chest, right where the front part of his wound rested. My fingers slid slowly across the woolly fabric of his suit, enjoying the rough feeling it held. I couldn't help but give a small smile as my gaze softened.
"I promise you, I wouldn't lie to someone like yourself, Edmund. I want to help you find your daughter. I want to restore that part of your heart – your soul – that was lost that day. You never gave up looking for her even though your wife has. Please, allow me to help you." His mouth that was parted closed and a long line formed across his lips.
He looked into my eyes and I just looked into his. I felt my heart thumping so loudly in my chest I swore that my cheeks were red from how quickly my heart was racing right now. We staid like that for maybe half a minute or more before he placed his hand over my wrist and removed my hand and cleared his throat. He quickly removed his gaze from mine and looked down at his desk. Releasing my wrist he stood up from his chair, I took two steps back to give him some room to stand, and once again he fiddled with his suit.
"Since after what you have told me, clearly you have no where to stay, correct?" I nodded. He was looking at me from out of the corner of his eye. He gave a half nod.
"I figured as much." he whispered.
"Well, you're more than welcome to stay here till we find you proper accommodations tomorrow." he said, motioning toward the cot that I had awoken from originally.
I nodded, looking to the poorly looking thing called a bed but it was better than sleeping on the streets tonight. I looked back at Reid as he moved out from behind the desk on the other end and walked over to the door.
"If you follow me I'll introduce you to a man who stays here that will be able to help you if you need help." he said, opening the door and waiting for me to exit first.
"You mean Donald?" I questioned.
Wondering if Reid meant the ginger officer that was always behind the desk. Reid just looked at me astonished and glanced out the door before looking back to me. He then motioned for me to follow him out the door. I did as he asked and followed him out into the small lobby and up to the desk where Sergeant Donald Artherton sat reading something, probably a report.
"Sergeant?" Reid cleared his throat, drawing the man's attention.
The man looked up with his glasses on and looked from Reid to myself then back to Reid.
"Sir?" he asked.
Reid leaned up against the desk and asked in a very low voice. I just looked around the room getting a better view now that I could see the room fully instead of what I could only see on the screen.
"Sergeant, have you ever met this woman in your life?" Reid pointed to me as I glanced around the room.
The Sergeant looked at me then gave Reid a confused look before shaking his head.
"I don't believe so sir. Why? Should I know the Miss?" Reid paused for a moment as if he was thinking everything over. He then shook his head.
"No, just wondering. This is Miss. Smith. She'll be staying in my office until we can find her proper accommodations. I've informed her that if she needs anything that she is to come to you. Are we clear, Sergeant?" The man looked from Reid to me and back to Reid before nodding with a very wide-eyed look – that one that he gave when he was confused with a situation but wasn't prepared to ask questions because he didn't want to be pulled into something that would cause trouble.
"Right, Miss. Smith – "
"Emma." Reid paused, being caught off guard.
"Sorry?" he asked.
"My name's Emma, not Miss. Smith. Miss. Smith makes me sound old. I don't like it. Call me Emma." I noticed the Sergeant glancing with that wide-eyed look between Reid and I as he watched and waited to see what was going to happen next.
"Emma – " he cleared his throat, "Now that you're well, I have police duty that I had to attend to if you would please stay in the office till my return in the morning. We'll discus your accommodations then."
"Okay dokay." I said nodding.
He gave a slight pause and glanced away from my gaze for a split second before he nodded as well and walked past me and into his office to grab a few things I guess and then made his way out the door. I watched as the tall man left, because let's face it I'm five nine or five ten and he's a good six three, and as I watched him leave I just had to get a good look of him up and down because let's face it – the camera never did anyone justice.
Once he had left I turned my attention back to the Sergeant and walked up to the counter. He looked at me and I looked at him. I placed my hands on the counter as I looked around the lobby, drumming my fingers against the wooden counter as I did so.
"So, what do you do for fun when you're not busy?" I asked, wondering what this man did since he was always behind this desk so much.
He glanced down at all the reports he had apparently already filed and then at some books that he must have been reading.
"Well, when some of the other boys don't have much to do we play checkers." I felt my heart skip a beat. Did I just hear him right? Did he just say that he plays checkers? They actually had a checkers board that they played here at the station.
"Can we play a game?" The Sergeant looked a little confused.
"Do you know how to play?" I laughed, I couldn't help it. I understood that many women back here in this era weren't able to play or didn't know how or just weren't allowed to play games like this – men's games they were called.
"Of course! I love to play! I play with my grandma all the time!" The Sergeant gave me a half hearted smile and pushed his chair away from the desk.
"Well I guess a game or two to pass the time wouldn't hurt." I beamed him one of the largest smiles I could muster as I followed him around the desk to where they kept the checker board.
It was really noisy the next morning and I didn't understand why that was either. I pulled the covers over my head and groaned as I tried to block out the criminals that shouted and the police that shouted back. Finally, once I knew I wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep I threw the blankets off my head and stretched out.
Once I did I quickly noticed that I was not the only one in the room. Over in his chair was Reid, laid back in his chair with his eyes closed, sleeping. It only took a second to dawn on me that I was sleeping in his normal sleeping area that he stayed in here at the office.
I closed my eyes, I felt bad. Pushing myself up out of the sunken in bed I felt my back pop in several places and I yelped out in pain. I heard something hit the floor and I jumped, turning around I seen that Reid was now awake and looking at me – startled.
"S-Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you." I apologized. It took him a minute to register what was going on as he just looked at me before shaking the sleep from his head.
"No, no, it's alright." he was still tired I could tell from the sound of his voice. I watched for a moment as he rubbed his face, before I turned my attention to my clothes. They were still all dirty and now the mud had tried and I just looked like a mess. I made a noise of slight disgust but ended up shrugging, no point in fussing over something I couldn't fix right now I guess.
"Oh, I found you some replacement clothing till you can clean those – clothes." I smiled, looking at the clothes that he motioned to that was sitting on the chair next to my cot.
He didn't have to do that, he could have just left me in what I was in but he had to get me replacement clothes – that's just like Reid. I picked up what I thought was a shirt top but was very much mistaken when it folded out and dropped all the way down to the ground. . . it was a dress. I winced. I hated dresses. I looked over to Reid with a smile still on my face, but it quickly faded.
"As much as I appreciate this nice gesture, I'm afraid I'll have to ask if you have any shirts and pants that will fit me?" Reid looked at me confused.
"You wish to continue to wear men's clothing? I figured you would have liked the dress?" I shook my head.
I knew that it was an odd request, even if I had already shown up in 'men's clothes' to begin with, but I liked what I liked to wear. Reid looked at me for a moment before he leaned forward in his chair and fixed himself up properly. He cocked his head to the side as if thinking about something and then frowned at whatever it was, he then looked my way.
"The only men's clothes we keep here are spare uniforms for our officers." I looked at him and thought for a moment.
"Would it hurt to borrow an undershirt and a pair of slacks?"
"Slacks?" Reid questioned, obviously unaware of the term for pants.
"Er, Pants? Bottoms? Things that I can wear to cover my bottom half?" Reid blinked, watching as I was pulling at my pants leg.
"Trousers, you mean to say?" I smiled.
"Yeah, you think I could borrow some without getting in trouble? It's not like I'm asking for the full uniform, just a plain white shirt and the – "
"Trousers." Reid reminded me.
"Yeah, those." I chuckled to myself, knowing that there were a lot of terms that I was going to have to learn and learn quickly if I was going to fit in till I was able to go home.
Speaking of which, I looked over at Reid and wondered if he was going to agree to let me help him or just keep me pushed out of the way while he continued working – I sure hoped it was the first one rather than the later. He managed to make his way across the office and opened the door, peeking his head out he glanced around before he called out into the Lobby.
"Constable, I need you to do something for me." I became curious and decided to put the dress back down onto the chair and turned around to fully see who it was that Reid was talking to now. A young boy, I knew who this boy was and I felt a sudden pain in my heart. He looked at me and gave a bright smile.
"You're alright miss." I walked a bit closer to the two at the doorway. Reid held up his hand and made a gesture to introduce the two of us.
"This is Miss. Emma Smith, Emma this is – "
"Hobbs." I whispered, my voice crackling as my mind raced quickly wondering if I could prevent this young boy's death in the future. The two looked at me, then to each other in slight confusion.
"Sorry?" Hobbs asked, probably curious as to how I knew his name.
"Oh! Um, I was told last night that the man that brought me in was Dick Hobbs, I just guessed that was you by how relieved you seemed to see me. That and you were the boy on the corner when I collapsed." He seemed to buy into the story, but Reid just kept his questionable look still seeming to doubt that I was actually from another world, but at the same time trying to figure out how I knew all these people without actually meeting them first.
"Yes, well, now that you two know each other. Emma requires some trousers and shirt from our supplies. If you would be so kind as to escort the lady there and allow her to find her size, then allow her back her to change. We've a very busy schedule ahead of us, so please make it as quick as possible." Reid said, though it was basically an order.
But Hobbs didn't seem to mind, only that he was slightly confused about the whole 'men's clothing' as well. I guess something just couldn't be explained. I followed Hobbs out into the lobby where the Sergeant greeted me with a smile, I returned it and continued to follow him to where they kept their clothing. He opened the door and allowed me inside as he stood aside for me to slip past him.
I never would have known from the television screen but he was very tall, probably only an inch shorter than Reid. And his eyes were a dark brown and very visible when not wearing his officer's hat. I walked inside and was surprised to find out that the room was about the size of a broom closet. I chuckled to myself because of my imagination I thought of a locker room – guess it was still too early in an era for that just yet.
"Um, you might try for the ones closer to the top first, they're for our taller officers." Hobbs said from the doorway, watching as I looked over the pants that were kept in wooden boxes that were built into the walls as little cabby holes – like what you put your stuff in when you're in kindergarten.
"Okay thanks, I like my pants being a little bit longer on me anyways."
"Whys that?" he asked, obviously curious as to why I wanted to wear men's clothing in the first place. I smiled as I ruffled through the pants, looking at them and comparing them to my waist and then hips to see if they'd slip over or not.
"I hate when my ankles are exposed and it's super cold out, or rainy, or snow, or windy because it'll send a chill right up my spine almost as if someone's put ice down the back of my shirt." Hobbs gave a small laugh at that and I noticed I got a smile from the boy.
"Why do you dress in men's clothing? Is there a reason?" he asked, watching as I placed a pair of pants down that I was sure would fit no problem as I then moved onto looking for a shirt that would fit.
"It's just a lot more comfortable. I'm able to run better, move better, fight better – "
"Fight?" he asked, sounding concerned. I held up a shirt to my body and found that it would fit okay for now. I looked up at him and nodded.
"Well, yeah, in my line of work I've got to be ready for anything." I said putting the shirt and the pants together and walking out of the room, not waiting for Hobbs to catch up as I continued down the hall and back to Reid's office. Hobbs caught up quickly and was following behind me closely, so close that I could feel him looking curiously over my shoulder as we walked.
"What is your line of work?" Once we got right outside of Reid's office, I seen Reid was sitting down at his desk and Sergeant Drake had arrived and was standing in front. Both men stopped talking and turned their heads to look at me right at the moment I turned around, holding the clothing closely to my chest, as I looked up at Hobbs and smiled.
"You know, for a young man you ask a whole lot a questions to a young lady you just met. Careful there Hobbs, keep talking and you might find yourself falling for me." It was almost instant that the boy's face grew reder than a tomato.
I could see the Sergeant from behind the desk in the lobby crack a smile and chuckle quietly to himself at the boy who stood there embarrassed and not knowing what to do now. I turned on the heels of my sneakers and entered Reid's office where both men had heard my conversation and seen first hand Hobb's reaction.
"Close the door if you would, please, Emma." Reid motioned to the door with his pen that he held in his hand currently. I did as I was told and closed the door behind me, once I turned back around I noticed that both men were still looking at me. Reid was the first to move, turning his pen toward Drake and shaking it.
"I've come to an agreement with myself, Emma." Reid started to say.
"I will believe every word that you've told me. Every word about you being from another world. Every word about you being here to help me find my daughter if – you can describe to me in detail things about this man here that few to no one else would know but either I myself or him." I looked from Reid to Drake.
I blinked a few times, trying to remember everything I knew about this man, every speck of information I was able to know from the show. I tried my best to figure out the one key piece that would make Reid believe me. Then, I remembered…
"You don't know me, it's obvious, but I know you Bennet Drake. Your rank here in the police force is Sergeant. You have a long standing military background – which I won't bother going into detail, but the one thing that I will bring up, is that tattoo that you got done while you were in Egypt. The Egyptian Warrior Goddess Sekhmet which is located on your right arm – upper arm I should say. The other two has army sergeant stripes on your left upper arm, and two snakes on your right arm."
Drake tilted his head with his mouth wide open before he raised a finger and looked at Reid.
"How did she – " Reid lowered his pen and placed it on his desk. Drake looked at me again before looking back at Reid again.
"How does she know about Egypt? Did you tell her, about that and my tattoos?" Reid took a moment before he shook his head.
I looked at Reid, I wondered what was going through his mind right now. I was hoping that this was enough to make him believe me – it was enough to shock Drake that was for sure. Reid stood up slowly from his desk and walked over to stand in front of me. He placed his hands on both sides of my shoulders slowly and then looked me in the eyes.
I had to admit it was an extremely intense moment, much more than I would have imaged it being to begin with. His eyes they held so much emotion – grief, determination, but above all else; hope. His hands squeezed gently onto my shoulders almost as if to reassure himself that this was actually happening.
"If you have come here to help me find my daughter, answer one question for me." he paused almost as if even afraid to ask. I could tell from how he sucked in his bottom lip and paused briefly as he closed his eyes before slowly opening them again – his hands gripping me tighter.
"Is she alive?" I felt my heart race faster.
My mouth dried, not expecting the question to come so soon – how stupid of me. I blinked once, raising my head just a tad to get a better look into those beautifully transfixing greenish-blue eyes of Reid's.