Patricia walked over to the assignment board. Dozens and dozens of cases were sticking out of the folders glued to the wall. She sighed at all the open cases around town that were still yet to be solved. She had been dreading the whole day. It was October 1st, in other words, the day August would be arriving. It would soon only be minutes before his arrival. She tried relaxing the night before. The last she heard from him, they both stormed off angrily with no contact afterwards. She knew her cousin Melinda had talked to him several times before losing contact herself. She picked up a folder and walked to her office, which was a small cubby hole type place. A short wall surrounded one side of the office, which combined with a different office. She heard noises erupt from the front doors of the department. Her captain rushed from his office. As he walked over to the new officer, he banged on her desk, giving her a look. She closed her eyes and pushed a strand of her hair under her ear, which fell back out again.
"Nice to meet you Lieutenant Loft," she heard a male voice say. Footsteps approached her area.
"Say hello to your new partner, Officer Halliwell," he said, arriving at her desk. She got up, finally looking up. She recognized him by his shaggy long hair and his sparkling familiar chocolate eyes. His smile faded away and he pushed his lips together, nodding. He extended his hand.
"Nice to see you," he said genuinely. She opened her mouth, her words stuck.
"You too," she managed, extending her hand and shaking his.
Her boss nodded. "Patricia, show him around the empty desk, get him situated." He walked off, patting his new officer on the back. She pushed her hair back again and moved around the desk.
"Okay, well this is your desk," she said, in monotonic voice. He nodded, walking over and dropping a box on it. She pointed to the assignment wall.
"That's where we pick up our assignments, there's usually a bunch up there," she said. He nodded again. She watched him as he unloaded his box. She wondered if he was thinking the same thing she was. She was dying to ask about his powers, his life. But he didn't seem to be so open to share his life. He didn't seem to have forgiven her yet, and she wasn't sure she could forgive herself either. All things aside, she had said the most awful things to him before he left. Her thoughts were sidetracked as he waved his hand in front of her. She shook her head.
"What?"
"Pen? Could I use that pen?" he asked, pointing to a pen on her desk. She nodded.
"Sure."
He walked over to her side and reached for it. Above the pen stood a frame of her with Junior, Helen, Melinda and Alex. She had kept it there to remind herself of the most important people in her life. Even the ones who weren't with her anymore. Of course, she held dozens of pictures of her parents, aunts and uncles, and cousins in her car, bag, home…possibly everywhere. He pointed to the picture with the frame.
"You guys all look good," he said, walking back to his desk. She turned her head, nodding.
"Yeah, Mel's been doing really good, helping out at her Mom's restaurant and Junior and Helen are great. We all live together in this great condo and…" she trailed off, surprised at how much she blurted out and revealed. She blinked her eyes wide.
"I need to focus on this assignment I just picked up. Are you good?"
He looked at the photo and back at her, nodding. She sat down and opened the folder, reading over the information slowly and carefully.
"You know, if you want," he started. Her hand dropped from her head, on which she was resting on.
"If you want, we could all hang out. Talk about stuff, like we did…before," he suggested. She thought for a moment and started shaking her head.
"I can't. I'm busy. Maybe you should try calling Mel," she said, going back to reading her case. She couldn't handle the vulnerability. She couldn't let anything hold her back.
He nodded, brushing hair from his face. "Okay."
"Penny, come in here, I need to discuss something very important with you," Leela said, as she passed Penny's office. Penny finished her drink and walked out of the door, heading to Leela's office. Her boss pointed to the empty chair across her own desk. Penny sat down nervously.
"I think you've been doing an excellent job here," she started. Penny beamed. "So, I want to put you on a trial run. One of my clients, Kelly, is having her wedding in about a month. I want you to be in charge of the rehearsal dinner."
Penny's eyes widened. Leela put her hand.
"You do understand if you pass this test, you will get a higher placement here, meaning you will get to handle more weddings with me," she continued. "Do not mess this up." She dismissed her from her office. Penny ran back to her own and jumped up, excitedly. She checked the clock and got ready to pack up her things. Taking out her cell, she dialed her sister.
"Hello?"
"Dora?"
"Hey Penny, how's it going?" Dora asked.
She excitedly spoke to her as she ran to her car in the rain. "Leela is allowing me to plan a rehearsal dinner which is just one step closer to getting to plan a wedding!"
Dora smiled. "Yay! You must be so happy."
"I am, I am, of course," Penny said, turning her key in her ignition. The sky had darkened an hour ago and it had started to rain. She heard her sister sigh on the other line.
"What's wrong?"
She grunted. "It's a student of mine. Brett."
Penny nodded, remembering. "The cute guy."
Dora sighed again. "He kissed me. Well, I kissed him back, but…"
"Wait, hold up. You kissed your student?"
"No, it's not like that. He's older than me, remember?" she said, with a hopeless voice.
Penny smiled. "You made out with a student."
"Ugh, I know," she responded. "And I kinda liked it."
"Whoa," she emphasized. "You and Brett… what does Aunt Paige say about that."
"Funny you ask," Dora shot back, sarcastically. "She loved it."
"Alright, alright. So you're saying you liked kissing Brett?"
Dora nodded, despite being on the phone. "And I know it's against school rules and all that, but I really, really like him Penny."
"Then screw the rules. You know as well as I do our family breaks all types of rules. Just look at mom. Don't forget she dated a demon," Penny commented.
Dora thought for a moment. "Yeah, but that was a whole different world. It's so in the past, it's like it never happened."
"And you're sure this is the only way?" a dark haired man asked. His black, stringy hair reached his chin. Beside him was another man, matching his height, but with brown hair and a tint of a golden hue.
"Yes. I am growing weaker by the day," a low voice responded. He towered over the other men and wore a black cloak, covering his face. The first man nodded and looked over at his friend, who gave him a look of doubt. The cloaked man handed the men vials, filled with a red tonic.
"And what is this going to do?" the friend asked.
"Change your appearances to clean yourself up. So nobody will get suspicious when you arrive," the dark figure responded.
He looked distrustfully at the figure. His friend pushed him to the side.
"Ryder, do what he says," he ordered.
"We've been in this together since day one, and I don't want to give it all up now," he responded.
"Yea, I know. But we're at a dead end here. If you haven't noticed, there is an apocalypse out there and demons are ceasing to exist. We need to get to a safer place," his friend tried to convince him.
Ryder glanced at the cloaked figure. "And what does he get out of this? Aidan, I don't trust him."
"Neither do I. But he's getting us out of here and that's all that matters."
"Yea, but to what? Who knows what kind of world we're entering," Ryder argued.
A demon suddenly shimmered in next to the figure and immediately fell to the ground, clutching his stomach. He screamed in pain as he combusted into flames.
Aidan looked back at his friend. "Can't be worse than that."
Ryder rubbed his temples. "I still don't understand why he's helping us." He looked back to the dark figure, who patiently waited.
"He's dying, if you didn't realize that yet. So he needs to send the best demons out of here so at least he doesn't think he failed."
Ryder shook his head. "I'll do it, but he knows something we don't. And we'll be damned when we get there."
They walked back together and Aidan drank the potion. Ryder watched as his friends hair shortened and his face cleaned up. His clothes went from torn and messy to clean and new. He felt the change and touched his short hair shockingly. Ryder quickly drank the tonic and his long hair ripped out of its ponytail. It also shortened, but up to his chin. His golden hues sparkled in the darkness and his clothes returned to its previous cleaner state.
"Now what?" Ryder barked. The dark figure weakly waved his hand at the concrete wall. A portal opened. Red and black thunder was seen inside the vortex. Aidan nodded and looked at Ryder. He extended his arm towards the deafening vortex.
"You first."
Ryder shook his head and walked in, his body glowing white. He disappeared. Aidan flickered his eyes at the dark figure once more.
"What should I expect?"
The figure looked at him sideways. "Don't you already know?"
Aidan frowned and jumped into the vortex, a white glow passing through him as well. The dark figure waved his hand over the vortex and it disappeared.
