Title: De profundis (part 4/5)
Author: That'd be me. *grins* Andrew, Obsidian, call me what you want. But only if it's nice. ;)
Rating: I think this'll end up staying somewhere along the T/PG-13 area.
Comments: Wow, I didn't think this would be my first D.E.B.S. fic. But the idea just wouldn't leave me alone, so... Well, hopefully, someone will enjoy it. It is just a bit dark, so be warned.
Legal Disclaimer: I do not own 'D.E.B.S.' That belongs to the fabulously talented Angela Robinson.
Author's Note: Yep, I think this story is just gonna be five parts long. Not my longest ever, but not bad for my first shot (in this fandom). And I promise, my next story will be fluffier. Or at least, not so dark and angsty... as much fun as that is. ;) (Honestly, I meant that at the time, really I did...)
De profundis - Up from the depths (of misery)
She was gorgeous.
Not that this should have come as any kind of surprise. Indeed, on one level, it wasn't. But she'd somehow managed to make herself forget just how profoundly this woman affected her, especially in person.
And she wanted to throw herself off a balcony. After everything Lucy had done, had given up for her. Of all the ungrateful...
She knew this wasn't really the time to get angry, but it did have the welcome effect of knocking her out of her Amy-induced lustful haze.
"What are you doing here?" Amy asked, her voice distant. Perhaps she was in shock.
Better not make any sudden moves, Diamond. "Well, you know, I was wandering around and thought 'Hey, why don't I go poke my head into random hotel rooms to see what's going on?' Come ON, Amy. Why do you think I'm here?"
"Isn't it a little late to pretend you care about me?" Amy snapped.
Lucy bristled, but inwardly she was smiling. She'd thought up several possibilities for getting Amy away from the edge. Plan A entailed getting her mad enough to forget why she was there in the first place and come after Lucy.
Of course, if she'd really thought that would work, she wouldn't have made any other plans. But it was worth a shot.
Besides, her daddy had always told her to be prepared for anything.
"You're one to talk. You screw around with me for a week, then merrily head back to your precious Debs."
"I had to!"
"Oh, bullshit, Amy! You didn't have to do anything. You chose to go back. I asked you to come away with me, but no. God forbid you do anything to harm your precious career," Lucy spat.
Amy was silent for a long moment. "That's not going to work," she said at length.
Lucy heard a "What?" from Janet behind her, but ignored it. "Is that so?"
Amy smiled. "It was a nice try, though."
Okay, on to Plan B. "I didn't say anything that wasn't true," Lucy said, moving sideways along the wall until she reached the railing, making sure to stop a good distance from Amy. Not missing a beat, Amy repositioned herself so she could keep an eye on her and Janet.
"Why did you leave me?" The question, barely a whisper, was torn from Amy's throat painfully.
"Why did you ask me to go?"
"It wasn't just about my career, you know." Amy sighed, looking down. Lucy snuck a step closer. "That was part of it, yes. I'd worked very hard to get to where I was, after all, and the job itself is important. Why do you think I felt so bad for not being able to be what I was supposed to be?"
"You're not supposed to be anything but you, Amy."
She smiled sadly. "That's just it. I'm the Perfect Score. That is me. That's who I was supposed to be, but I couldn't do it, no matter how hard I tried. So I just kept trying harder, only it never worked."
"That is NOT who you are. It means you passed a test. That's it. I thought we'd gotten that sorted out a year ago." At Amy's surprised look, she smiled ruefully. "You're not the only one who remembers what day it is."
"I suppose not," Amy said softly. "The other reason was you."
"Me?"
"If you'd kept coming to me, eventually you would have been caught. They thought you were a killer. What do you think would have happened to you?"
"Then why not stay with me?"
"Because they would have never left us alone!" Amy exploded. "The 'Perfect Score' going AWOL with the Debs Most Wanted? They would have never stopped looking for us. Never. We'd have been constantly being hunted, never given a moment's peace... I couldn't do that to you."
"Or to you."
"...no."
"So how's that decision working out for you?"
Amy was silent.
"Yeah, that's what I thought."
"That's not fair."
"No, what's not fair is you thinking that I'd want to have find out by reading some newspaper that you'd killed yourself. How do you think that would have made me feel?" Plan B seemed to be working okay thus far, but she wasn't entirely confident she could talk Amy down like this. So she mentally judged the distance between them, deciding how much closer she'd have to be for Plan C.
Amy blinked as something - something rather obvious, she felt - finally occurred to her. "How did you get here, anyway?"
Lucy flashed her that smile. "How do you think?" she asked. Amy felt a slight shiver at the tone, remembering all to well the first time she'd heard it. Even then, it had had an effect on her.
"You are .. you know ... still under arrest"
"Am I?"
"Ms. Petrie would never let you use the transporter."
"I'm not sure she knows."
"Who ca-" She broke off and shot a look at the nervous blonde in the doorway. "Janet."
"It was Max's idea!" Okay, perhaps it was a bit cowardly to hide behind her squad leader like that, but it was true! Besides, she was hoping that the simple fact that Max had decided to bring Lucy into the situation would distract Amy enough for Lucy herself to do... something.
"Max?" Amy repeated, incredulous. As if on cue, Max herself appeared in the door behind Janet. "You?"
Max shrugged. "What else was I supposed to do?" She kept her eyes locked on Amy, ignoring the slight inching motion off to the side.
Unfortunately, Amy didn't miss it, either. "I told you to stay back!" she said, pressing closer to the edge.
"No, you didn't."
Amy blinked. "I didn't?"
"Nope."
"Well, I meant to."
"Yeah, well, I meant to sink Australia, but that didn't happen, either."
"What IS up with that, anyway?"
"You really wanna know?"
"Yes."
"Then go inside."
Amy glared. "I'm not that curious."
Damn. "It was worth a shot."
Amy hadn't missed that Lucy hadn't quite stopped edging closer. "Well, now I am telling you to stay back."
"Oh, sure."
There was a clicking sound, and Amy felt something cold on her wrist. She pulled it away, but the motion made Lucy lurch forward, and the latter grabbed onto the rail for support.
Handcuffs. She'd slipped up and let Lucy get close enough to put cuffs on her. Or rather, to cuff them together. And the cuffs were... sparkly?
No, not just sparkly. Diamond-studded. "How did you...?"
Lucy shrugged. "I made a stop on the way. I gotta tell you, though, that gizmo of yours does a number on the stomach."
"You get used to it," Amy said faintly. "You were in my room?" For some reason she couldn't figure out, the thought made her blush.
"Yeah. Had to do a bit of digging to find them. For a minute, I was worried you'd thrown them away."
"...never."
A grin. "I kinda figured that when I saw what else was in the box." The grin widened. "You were quite the little stalker, weren't you?"
"Shut up!" Amy said, smacking Lucy on the arm. She couldn't hide her smile, though.
So far, Plan C was going nicely.
"I still can't believe you used me as your thesis subject."
Amy sighed. "That was a long time ago."
Uh-oh. "So what now?"
"I get out of these, kiss you goodbye, and let gravity win."
"Why bother getting out of them, then?"
"What?"
Lucy sighed, brushing several strands of Amy's hair back. Amy subconsciously leaned into the contact. "Do you really think," Lucy began gently, "that if you jump off this building, I'm not damn well coming after you?"
"Wha- You can't!"
"Why not?"
"Because... Because you just can't!"
"But you can?"
"..."
"Amy, don't you get it? Haven't you been keeping tabs on my criminal activities, like the Debs always do?"
"Well..."
"But it hasn't been all that easy, has it? Because there have barely been any. Just those that deserve it. Those that should be in jail, or dead, but the law will never touch. Because every time I even think about robbing another bank, or museum, I hear your voice in my mind telling me that it's wrong. I can't DO it anymore. A lot of the time, I just sit around, being miserable."
"No one's making you keep trying."
"Like no one made you go back to the Debs."
"So why was it okay for you to expect me to just drop my career, my friends, my life, to go away with you, but you couldn't stop stealing?" Amy snapped.
"Because it's all I know. And the only person who'd ever made me want to be something more had turned her back on me."
Amy flinched. "I didn't want that..."
"Then come away with me." Lucy held out her free hand. "Just the two of us. Well, and maybe Scud, but he stays out of the way."
Amy stared at the hand, hypnotized. "Lucy..."
"Amy, you're about to throw yourself off a building because you hate your job and your life so much. Why not come with me?"
"...they still won't leave us alone..."
"They don't care about me that much, anymore, and they'll just be glad you're safe." Lucy paused. "Because otherwise, we may as well both jump. I can't live without you anymore, either. So don't you dare try to make me." She hopped up to join Amy in sitting on the narrow railing.
"You can't know that," Amy said, despite desperately wanting nothing more then to take Lucy's proffered hand, to accept her offer. To say 'yes' this time.
"I do."
The deep bass voice surprised them both, making Amy grab nervous at the railing. "Mr. P.?" she asked, incredulous. Sure enough, there he was with Janet and Max. And Dom, she noted. The French agent had slipped out onto the porch to smoke, probably at Janet's insistence.
The thought almost made her smile.
"Amy, Lucy hasn't committed any prosecutable crimes in over a year. And most of the warrants for her have expired."
"But all the stuff she's stolen recently..."
"I, uh... I had my people start returning that before I came out here." Amy looked at Lucy in surprise. The badass master criminal was looking at her legs, almost embarrassed. "I figured... Well, one way or another, I wouldn't be needing it anymore. Scud should be finishing up the bank transfers now."
"You'd just let me go?" she asked, wanting nothing more then to believe it, but afraid to. Afraid that it was just a trick to get her away from the only other chance for peace she had.
"We can't make you stay."
"Come on," Lucy said softly. "Come with me. What have you got to lose?"
Amy smiled at the words. Finally, she had a chance to say the right answer. "Not a damn thing."
Lucy - and likely the rest of the audience - exhaled in relief. "Good, because I've gotta tell you, I don't really wanna plunge... How high up are we?" She peered down at the street.
"We're on the twentieth floor," Amy said, also looking down.
"Damn, Amy. When you decide to kill yourself, you go all out."
Amy chuckled. "Hey, I didn't reserve these rooms- Whoa!" She'd ended up leaning over the street just a little too far, and overbalanced herself.
Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Lucy, uncomprehending at first, saw happiness swiftly being replaced by panic on Amy's face, as the blond Deb frantically pinwheeled her free arm to try and regain her balance.
Judging by the sharp tug on her arm a moment later, it didn't quite work. And now she really wished she hadn't been sitting on the railing, too.
Time, the little bitch that she was, chose that moment to speed back up as they both went over the side. Hearing several soprano and one bass voice shouting "Amy!" - and part of her mind wondering why nobody cared about her enough to shout her name - Lucy managed to grab onto one of the bars.
And either the hotel took absolutely lousy care of their property, she'd managed to grab the one that had rusted or become brittle, or someone up there just hated her, because the bar snapped off in her hand.
They fell.
To Be Concluded...
As always, feedback and comments are my drugs of choice. *lol*