Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or ideas from The Killing. It's all just way too much fun.
Spoilers: Season 2, episodes 6 and 7
Author's Note: I know the last few chapters have taken a while, but I've been busy lately - I haven't given up on this story! I'm not sure how this chapter got so long. I couldn't decide if the end was too cheesy, but I felt like a little bit of cute was in order. Please review and let me know what you think!
DAY 19
Sarah Linden is so proud of Jack's quiz grade, she tells him that she's putting it on the refrigerator. That's when she sees it there, staring at her. The sketch of the trees that Adrian had done during the Seward murder case is on the refrigerator. She had definitely not put it there. She would never have put it there. Jack hadn't put it there either. It had been packed away.
Linden panics. In a flash, she has Jack out the door. They head for the safest place she can think of. The only safe place she can think of.
In his apartment, Holder's phone rings. " 'S Holder."
"Hey, it's me," says Linden, who is standing with Jack only a few feet away from Holder, in the hallway outside of the door to his apartment. "Are you home?"
"Yeah, why, what's up?"
In answer to Holder's question, Linden knocks on the door. Holder opens it to find the two of them standing in front of him. This must be big, he thinks to himself.
"Hey," says Linden.
"Hey," replies Holder. She feels flustered, showing up in the middle of the night, and he's quite curious about what's going on, yet they're both acting like this happens all the time, as if everything is normal. In a weird way, it almost feels normal.
"We need to stay here, just for a night." It's a statement, not a question, Holder can't help but notice. But then, Linden's never been overly concerned with politeness; most of the time she's blunt to a fault. But Holder doesn't mind. He's any easy going guy, and there isn't much he wouldn't do to help his partner. He knows that she would never put herself in this situation – or in any situation that requires her to ask for help – if she had any choice whatsoever.
"Yeah, sure, come in."
After changing her clothes, Linden comes back down the hall to find Holder and Jack on the floor wrestling. Boys, she thinks to herself with a smile. At least they can enjoy themselves.
Meanwhile, the head of Security from the Wapi Eagle casino is just outside, watching from her car parked along the street below, as the scene unfolds before her through the brightly lit windows of Holder's apartment. Linden has been told that she is paranoid in the past, however, in this instance her concern is justified. Of course, she doesn't know this. She just has the sensation of being watched.
Holder and Jack have moved on to Monopoly, but Linden doesn't join them. Instead, she keeps watch at the window, staring into the dark and going over what she knows for sure along with what her intuition is telling her, trying to reconcile the two. Trying to work it all out.
Holder momentarily leaves Jack sitting by the board to ponder his next move. He approaches Linden by the window, watching her and sensing her worry. "Maid probably just moved it. Always be putting my Gideon's in the drawer. Makes me lose my place in Exodus."
"The drawing was packed away. This was a message. Whoever did this knows things about me." Inside, Linden shivers at the thought. As someone who tries desperately to hide anything about her that would make her vulnerable, just the possibility that someone knows that much about her is terrifying.
"That old case you were working on? Is that what Carlson was talking about?" Linden doesn't answer, but Holder can sense that he's right. With Linden, he's usually right. He has never seen her so scared, and he wishes there was something he could do. "Hey, trust me on this Linden, you're safe. No one ever comes around here, not even Jehovah's Witnesses."
Then, in a louder voice, as he turns and walks back towards Jack and the Monopoly game, he says, "Only thing we gotta worry about is the youngin robbing us." He looks at Jack. "I said roll for me, not rob me!"
"You owe me rent," Jack replies simply.
"Rent on Pinewood Square ain't two Gs," Holder counters, snatching some Monopoly money back from him.
"I think the zen rock garden and fountain are what's really gonna help me relax," Linden tells him sarcastically from across the room.
"Laugh it up, Linden, my dojo is the sanctuary of light."
Linden smiles as she watches them play, but the smile doesn't last. She continues to look worriedly out the window. She knows that she isn't safe, but at that moment she is thankful that at least she isn't alone.
Holder
I can't believe that Linden showed up at my door. Linden, Miss I-Don't-Need-Anyone, I'm-Not-Afraid-of-Anything. She's one of the toughest cops I know, and it takes a lot to rattle her. No, let me rephrase that. It takes a lot for her to admit to another human being that something rattled her. This Seward trial picture thing… whatever it means, it was no joke to her. I mean, damn, if I could bottle the nervous energy coming off of her, I could run the lights in this place for a week.
At the same time, much as I hate to see Linden like this, it's kinda flattering to be the person that she came to for help. I know that it's cause she had no other choice – I've seen how it kills her to ask people for things, and really, I can't think of anyone else she would've asked – but even so, I know that if she didn't trust me, she wouldn't be here. She would've figured something else out. Most likely kept it all bottled up, which ain't healthy at all. Bad for the chi.
Funny how people always see me as the good for nothing tweakhead, but for some reason, not Linden. Just like nobody else seems to see past her prickly exterior – except me.
Linden
I would've given anything to have been able to solve this thing myself. Anything. There's pretty much nothing I hate more than asking for help, depending on anyone for anything. I hated having to show up at Holder's door like that and ask him for help… well, really I guess I didn't really ask… I guess I should have probably made it more of a question… but one thing I know about Holder, and that's that if it had bothered him, he'd have told me. I like that about him.
I know Jack thinks I'm acting crazy again, but we were really in danger. That drawing was put out intentionally as a message to me. Someone out there knows way too much about me. Someone out there is watching me. I don't have proof, but I know it… I can just feel it.
Or maybe everyone is right, and I am paranoid.
They say that line between paranoia and intuition is razor thin. But I'm not usually wrong about these things. People think I overthink but when it comes down to it… my gut is usually right.
No, I know I'm right this time. I just have to prove it.
…
It was just after 2:00 am when Holder stirred on the couch, where he was sleeping, peering wearily at the small digital clock across the room to confirm what he felt – that it was still the middle of the night. He tried shifting to a more comfortable position, but he had to admit that as much as he liked his couch, it was not meant to be used as a bed. He'd insisted that Linden and Jack take his bed – it was the polite thing to do – but boy did he miss that PosturePedic mattress now. He shifted himself to a sitting position, setting his feet on the floor in front of him. He leaned forward and ran hands over his face. There would be no getting comfortable out here.
He looked up with surprise as he heard the faintest rustling noise from the hallway, and then Linden appeared around the corner. She looked just as tired as he felt. "What's up, Linden?" he asked quietly. "You got your regular 2 hours of sleep and now you're good?" He always wondered how she seemed to run on so little sleep, and she was proving it once again by being awake.
He grinned at her, that stupid, little boy grin that made it so hard for her to be annoyed with him, even when she wanted to be. "Haha," she answered, making a face of sleepy mock indignation. Her eyes moved slowly over the darkened room as she talked. "I've been tossing and turning for what felt like hours. I was afraid I was keeping Jack awake, so I decided to stop fighting it." She paused. "I don't really ever… you know… sleep very well." Without looking at Holder, she walked to the window and peered out at the night.
Holder watched her at the window for a moment, wearing the same worried expression as she had when she'd stood in that same spot earlier that evening. He knew that her mind was wherever it had been earlier, whatever it was exactly that she was worried about. "Some demons are hard to run from," he said quietly. Linden didn't respond, didn't even blink. He wasn't sure she'd heard him. She appeared to be lost in her thoughts.
Sighing with the tiredness that comes from waking up in the middle of the night, he slowly got up from the couch and walked to the kitchen. He took out two glasses and filled them with cool water. He padded back over to the window where Linden stood looking out and held out a glass to her. She didn't notice him there at first, though his shoulder was only a few inches from hers. "Here," he said simply, handing her the glass. She smiled slightly at him as she took the water, looking surprised to see him suddenly standing there, but her eyes snapped right back to the window and her smile vanished almost as quickly as it had come. She really IS lost in her thoughts, Holder thought to himself.
They stood there, almost should to shoulder in comfortable silence, watching the night before them and sipping their water, for a little while. Holder didn't mind. He was just about to go back and lie down on the couch and leave her to her thoughts, when he heard her take a deep breath and say, in a voice barely above a whisper, "I try to run from them, but it never works. And they're worse when I sleep. So… I don't. Not much anyway." So she had heard him.
He glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes. She was still staring out the window. "Hey," he said in a voice just as hushed as hers had been, "didn't I tell you? I guess I forgot. This is a demon-free zone. None of those guys allowed here." He turned to face her then, and the movement was enough to pry her eyes from the street outside. He flashed that same dumb smile as before, the same ones as always, because he was really pleased with his attempt at a joke on the off chance that it would make her smile.
The corners of her mouth turned up slightly. "Now you tell me," she replied, completely serious. Linden was the queen of deadpan humor.
He shrugged and, trying to stifle a grin, he said "I thought you knew."
He looks so pleased with himself, Linden thought.
"C'mon, nothing you need to keep track of out there. Time for bed," he told her, taking her glass of water and setting both of them down on an end table. He started walking toward the hallway. She realized suddenly how tired she was, and reluctantly followed him. He swung the door open slowly, to avoid the squeak that the hinges made if he moved the door too fast, and indicated that she should go in. She dragged herself to the edge and sat down, pausing only for a second to appreciate the softness of the mattress before lying back down and pulling the covers up. She braced herself for her regular routine of tossing and turning.
Holder, however, hadn't left the room yet, she noticed. He walked to the closet and took several pillows off the top shelf. She watched him curiously as he plopped them down in a stack next to the bed. "Holder, what are you doing?" she whispered, hoping that she wouldn't wake up Jack.
"You are gonna get some sleep, Linden," he whispered. "Now, there's no demons here, but I'm gonna stand guard just in case." With that, he sat down on the stack of pillows, his back leaning against the side of the bed, midway between the headboard and the footboard. He glanced up at her as she stared at him, dumbstruck.
"You can't sit there all night!" she whispered emphatically.
"Linden, there's no reason I can't. I'm every bit as stubborn as you, and you know it." She had to admit, he was right about that. "And honestly, this may be more comfortable than sleeping on that couch," he added with a grin. "Unless," he paused, "I'm bothering you."
She stopped to consider this. Was it weird that Holder wanted to sit there all night? Of course! Did it bother her? She had to admit that she didn't have a problem with it, exactly…
"No," she said slowly, her confusion still apparent, as she shook her head.
"Then just go to sleep, Linden," Holder said quietly. "No demons. Promise."
"OK, OK," Linden whispered sleepily, putting her head back on the pillow. Her eyes closed almost immediately.
Good, Holder thought to himself as he leaned his head back against the side of the bed, feeling tired enough to drift off to sleep, even in his sitting position. It felt good to be able to help her, like had he won a battle of some kind. In some ways, he supposed that he had.