December's Shadow

[Ravynlee]

“Rave, wait,” begged Rob, as Ravyn was about to hang up her phone on her side of the glass pane. She looked to Rob confused. “I love you still…..a lot”

Awww! :'( That was like a tearjerker moment... mind you I had to grimace and shake my head. My automatic response, despite my love for the guy, would be 'Sorry. Been screwed over too many times. You know it. I'll do what I can but that's it. Take care.'

Poor guy.

But playing between two women like that doesn't excuse his actions of earlier. He said some pretty mean things that I wouldn't be able to forgive in any hurry, unless he was willing to prove he was a 'changed man' *scoff* And you know what, I can't help but think he's only sayng that because A) Vanessa's disappeared and he wouldn't be distracted if she was still in his life, and B) he thinks I am his only way out from behind bars. Either way reeks of desperation and after Azem and Chester damnit I think Ravyn my character deserves something way more. Sorry, bit harsh, I know it's just a story but seriously, you painted me as a severe almost heartless *****, then she wouldn't be backing down now with Rob no matter how much he was looking forlorn. In fact that would be 'go in for the proverbial jugular' time at him because he's vulnerable. Hurts doesn't it *******?

Mean? Yeah, hahaha :spiteful:

This thing about the way they found David (Draiman) upstairs in Anette's place suggests to me that the killer is getting sloppy. The knew enough at the start to gut clean like a medical practitioner and now they are setting up apparent suicides with the absence of basic tell tale residue etc. Surely any self respecting killer even without official training but just a crime buff from the TV would know about things like that - which also begs the question, with such a severe swing between Modus Opperandi that this is NOT the same killer, but maybe a copy cat or a sympathiser with our first. Maybe even a close friend who was privy to information or was like a protege like the Amanda character to Jigsaw in the Saw movies. See, I watch too much of these programs myself it has the cogs in MY head turning... and this is only fiction!

All in all adoring it. I really have to praise you that part near the start this exchange between Rav and Marco and the detail of the sky and wire. That just made the update, something so simple but hauntingly beautiful it really set the scene. **** well done. Thought I'd point that out ^^

 

[woodyloveslinkin]

~

​

Jo sat in the cafeteria of the hospital institute of Sacred Heart, clenching her coffee in her tight gripped hand, staring at Andrea in front of her who looked very scared for her life as though she was at the fate of a cold blooded murderer. Two words to describe how angry and upset Jo felt. Azem. Jeezy.

“I ******* hate them,” she said to Andrea, who took a sip of her overpriced and badly brewed coffee. “Harris was right. They are ********.”

“She doesn’t know Jeezy, but yeah, you’re right about Azem,” reminded Andrea, calmly. Seeing Joanna angry was too confrontational for her liking that’s why she was freaked out a bit. “I think she would kill Jeezy for all but nothing that he’s worth.”

“He got rid of Tarja, Melissa, Shinoda, Chester, was his doing as well, got rid of Harris because she couldn’t stand to be around the guy, got rid of Sarah, and now this, he’s gotten rid of Brad, that’s our team basically gone, that are actually quite useful, the rest of them are retards who like to either annoy or hit on me,” Joanna complained, letting go of her coffee, as Andrea removed the coffee from Joanna’s reach as she was afraid it was going to burst open.

“You know the funny thing about this is?” asked Andrea as she couldn’t help but to think of such a predicament. “If Harris was still here, you would be saying the opposite thing. You would be complaining or crying about the fact that she did or said something to make you so upset. And now I hear you want her back or some **** like that? What the **** has gotten into you? What have you done with the Joanna that comes out with nothing but sheer stupidity?”

“I can’t stand working in such an environment where Azem acts like a nasty old meanie,” grumbled Joanna, crossing her arms and slumping down into her chair, as Andrea realised how much of a two year old tantrum Joanna was currently pulling.

“You’re strange, stranger since Ravyn left,” commented Andrea, as the one person that Joanna wasn’t prepared to listen or talk to came along and made himself comfortable in the seat next to Andrea. She turned to him and frowned. “You’re an *** Michael.”

“You know you can either call me Mike or just Jeezy,” recommended Jeezy, as he placed his fruit salad on the table and started to drink his soft drink which was quite contradictory to the fact that he was trying to eat something healthy but he wasn’t drinking anything near it.

“Mike’s gone, our Mike’s gone!” snapped Joanna, still grumbling to herself about how much of an *** both Jeezy and Azem were. “**** you for even thinking we’ll call you Mike.”

“Are you having a nervous breakdown or something Joanna?” asked Jeezy, a bit confused, as he placed his soft drink can on the table and stared at her. Joanna didn’t reply. “You seem like you need to be admitted to the psyche ward or something very soon. Losing the plot are you?”

“I’ll ******* lose the plot over you soon and your stupid ways, you just don’t ******* get it,” replied Joanna. “You are not Michael Kenji Shinoda. You are not Mike the head of the pharmacy down on the ground level. You are not Mike, Brad’s best friend. You are not Mike who is in love with Sarah. You are not Mike who hugged Ravyn at her farewell. You are not Mike who lost his job because of that fat donut ****, Azem. You are not Mike, you are not Mike, and did I mention you are not Mike?! You are Jeezy! You are Jeezy who replaced Ravyn when she left because of that fat donut ****. You are Jeezy who recommended laying off Brad. You are Jeezy the one responsible for getting rid of the last of the wilds! You are Jeezy the fat fruit salad ****!” She got to her feet and stormed off almost knocking down several people in the process.

“Yeah, she has officially snapped, and still, it’s always funny,” smirked Andrea, at the fact that Joanna had just let it all snap at the one person that Andrea didn’t suspect that she would snap out. She would was hoping more towards Azem’s direction. It would serve that ‘fat donut ****’ right and hopefully set him straight a couple of angles in the direction of the right morality. She saw Meg out of the corner of her eye and turned around. “Oi. White tell me why you haven’t done those things for the Andrego kids like I had told you to do yesterday?” Meg came over and she was teary. She sat where Joanna had previously sat before she had stormed off. She placed her lunch on the table. “What the **** is wrong with you? I mean, when isn’t there a drama in your world?”

“Brad left me a couple of days ago,” answered Meg. “Said I was too controlling and that he needed a break. And then he said something about how he had to go because he had to catch a bus to the other side of Washington D.C.”

“Why the **** is his sorry *** in D.C.?” asked Andrea, a bit confused. “I hope he’s not going after Harris and declaring his ultimate love for her or some stupid Romeo and Juliet stunt **** like that. And plus, Rob wouldn’t like it very much.”

“She’s in D.C.?” asked Jeezy, wanting to be included in the conversation but all Andrea did was, give him a threatening look. “What? Was it something I said…again?”

“Just shut your trap before it gets buried in the centre of my backyard,” answered Andrea, rolling her eyes at him and refocusing her attention back on Meg and her little dramas in life which would normally resolved by giving her a bunch of chocolate and a chick flick to watch. “Are you deliberately trying to be stupid again White?” Meg shook her head. “Just say yes so I can shoo you out of my sight.”

“You’re as worse than Harris and Brad combined,” pouted Meg as she picked up her lunch and left the table. To only join another table that was full of idiotic nurses that Andrea loved to poke fun at.

“Not really, Ravyn only holds an I.Q. point or two higher than my I.Q and Brad, well, anyone can be smarter than him,” replied Andrea, knowing that Meg had walked away but she continued to ramble on as always. “***. Give him a colour wheel and ask him what are the two colours that make up green and he’ll say purple and orange or some crazy **** like that.”

“Why is he in D.C. for?” asked Jeezy, as Andrea gave him a sharp look. “I’ve done nothing wrong to deserve such looks and you know that. I’ve heard many rumours about this Harris woman and I don’t know what’s worse. Knowing that you have an attitude adjustment problem or not knowing what Harris’ problem was like.”

“I am little compared to what was used to be done to other members of the staff, so don’t ever, and I mean, never ever compare me to Harris and plus, she did a better job at trying to get this hospital to walk in a straight line then I have,” replied Andrea. “I’ve only managed to achieve the opposite and undo Harris’ work around this joint.”

“Aww…poor diddums,” mocked Jeezy, as he saw Azem in the corner of his eye standing on the brink of death and destruction, well, outside of Andrea’s terms anyway, because she had just noticed him as well. “Oh he must be the Devil to Joanna if I’m his *****.”

“You’re that with or without Azem working here,” retorted Andrea getting up and off her seat not wanting to stick around to abuse the **** out of her boss and then get fired. Azem was actually looking for Andrea, wondering why Joanna came up to him yelling abusive words and then resigning from her job as the newly re-promoted head of the nurses. “Don’t you even dare Azem.”

“What did I do this time?” asked Azem, as he approached Andrea, and Andrea started to walk the opposite way. Azem broke into a run wanting to catch up to her. Andrea sighed as she gave up the dog-chase-cat game. She stopped and turned around. “What is the matter with Sacred Heart’s hospital staff? I just had Joanna chuck a full episode at me. If I had to pause it and slowly step the whole episode, it would end up like ten episodes off Dragon Ball Z. What the **** Andrea?”

“What the **** is wrong with you Azem?” asked Andrea. “That’s the issue we have to face. You treat us like we’re your slaves and you’re our almighty Russian emperor. Look here Sacred Heart is Narcism Inc. right now and I am not going to handle bullshit. Joanna, despite the fact that she was quite erratic and out of control, was right in the long run. It went downhill since Harris left.”

“Now don’t go and do something stupid like resign,” warned Azem. “If you want to keep this hospital together, like your Utopian fantasies are wanting, stay.”

“No I won’t go and do something stupid like resign I already did that, the letter is on your desk, I put it there about an hour ago,” replied Andrea.

“You *****,” commented Azem, crossing his arms and in the state of shock concerning the attitude of the staff at Sacred Heart. “Why did you do that?”

“Why did you do that stuff to Harris back then? You don’t know, was that answer I got last time I got up you about it?” asked Andrea, trying to recall the moment that she had said that. She knew she had said it but she didn’t know when. “That’s my answer for you. I don’t know.” Andrea turned around and started to walk away. But she forgot to do something that she had been meaning to do for a while now. She walked back to her spot where she was standing before, because Azem was still frozen in shock like as if he had been electrocuted to the point of stupidity. Azem was even more shocked when Andrea worked up the guts to leave not only one large red hand print on one side of his face, but she had worked up the guts to leave two. “The first one was from me. The second one was from Ravyn. Crash and burn.” Those were the last words Andrea said to Azem inside the hospital’s walls.

~

​

 

[woodyloveslinkin]

ok...

*sigh* of relief. I had trouble with this update. Now and it's over and done with.

Oh...did I mention it is my 7,000th post?

~

​

Mike, Brad, and Mel were sitting at a diner’s for this evening’s meal. Mind them, the lot of them had started to become regular diners because there were a number of reasons and one of them was because they hadn’t found a place close enough to the city to hide away under the cover of tall buildings and fancy cars. Matt and Sarah, with of course Ava in her lap had just come back from one of Matt’s interviews for a job. Sarah only wanted to come along because Mike was acting like a retarded monkey on medication and that Matt and Sarah were having a heart-to-heart about what they were going to do with Ava and what happens if they end up separating their ways.

Sarah knew that her sanity wouldn’t hold on for much longer and she also knew that her mood swings were overdue at Matt’s bullshit. Matt pushed the diner’s door open and offered for Sarah to go first. She smiled, as she was in hand in hand with her child that was busy sucking on a lollipop that Sarah had bought to shut her up and make her stop asking questions about what was happening. She walked over to the three people that she escaped Chicago with, as Matt entered and let the door slam behind him. He didn’t immediately go over to the table; he couldn’t help but to notice some people outside the cafeteria. They weren’t Ravyn and Rob. He frowned and walked away over to where Sarah sat down and left Ava to run all over the place. His child ran past him and he caught her by her clothes and tugged her the opposite way.

It was no use. She was defiant. More defiant than to what Matt liked to put up with. He picked the child up who by now was screaming out for her mother, as thought Matt was trying to take her away from her mother. He wasn’t. He had no intention to do so.

“What the matter is with you today?” asked Sarah, turning around facing her child. “I give your lollipop and just shut up why don’t you?” Sarah looked to Matt. “Just put her down. If she gets lost she can find her way out by screaming out for her mother. In fact, not that negligent, give her here.” Matt walked up to the table, as Sarah had opened her arms to accept her child and Matt passed their daughter over to Sarah. Sarah accepted and forcefully sat her child down her lap, pushing Ava away from leaning on her stomach. Ava then went ahead and amused herself by holding a saliva covered lollipop in hand (more like by this stage a saliva covered hand) and started to pick the chips off Mel’s plate who sat opposite her.

“Shove over,” said Matt, as Mike who was sitting next to Sarah, was forced to sit right next to the window, that created a weird shadow pattern effect on half his face because the owner had put blinds over the window, so the sun wouldn’t directly shine in on the diner and its eaters. Sarah moved over to being the piggy in the middle, as Ava got annoyed that she couldn’t reach Mel’s plate anymore and then started back sucking her fifty cents lollipop. Matt sat down on the side where it had the most leg room. Brad and Mel sat opposite, eating whatever there was on their plates and this time, to much of Mie’s relief, Brad wasn’t being a disgusting pig and shoving all the food down at once like he had previously been doing.

“How did it go?” asked Mel, looking to Matt and also thinking of Ava and scooping her chips onto her hand and then dropping them onto a side plate. She passed them over to the child who was too indulged by now by the strawberry and vanilla taste of the lollipop. So Sarah took on the advantage and started to eat them. Mel noticed and frowned. “Excuse me, not for you. I wouldn’t sacrifice my food for someone who could pay for their own. You think of why I didn’t let Gradon touch my fruit salads despite how much he used to beg to pick the pineapple out of the salad. I mean, what is it without the pineapple? A lump of lard?”

“Nice lecture, one problem though,” replied Sarah, finishing a chip and pushing it into view of the child that Mel had failed to do. Ava automatically stopped giving the strawberry-vanilla lollipop all the attention and focused on stuffing down the chips. “You got sidetracked. You didn’t make her notice it properly.”

“Ouch, hot,” complained Ava, as she stopped eating and looked to her mother with painful eyes. She had pushed the chips away, rejecting them. “Hot.”

“Is it hot?” asked Sarah, as Ava nodded, as she turned back around and started to reach for Brad’s drink. Sarah stopped her and gave her Mike’s glass of water and helped Ava drink it. He also was too busy stuffing his face on a greasy hamburger. “Let Mummy have them for you.” She looked back to Mel. “See, an advantage of having a child. You can take whatever the child doesn’t eat.” Sarah drew the plate in closer to her as Ava decided to stand up on the small gap between her and Mike and sit down on Mike’s lap.

“Could you make it any more difficult for me to eat something Ava?” asked Mike, as he placed the half eaten hamburger on the plate, with food still in his mouth. Ava shook her head confused. “Not blaming you, but here. Look, sit down here.” Mike moved over some more so that he was now pinned against the wall, picked the child up and placed her on the seat in the gap that he had just made particularly for her and sat her down. She now looked like a smaller version of Ravyn but this one could just see over the table top.

“As I said before, little Miss Attention ***** got the attention once again, how did the interview go?” asked Mel, as Sarah shot her an offended look.

“Mel, she’s only a kid,” defended Sarah, somewhat shocked that Mel had called Ava an attention seeking *****. “Take it back.”

“I was only kidding Sar, you should know that, sorry,” apologised Mel, as she rested her head on the back of the seat. Sarah went back to eating the chips and was trying to shake off Mel’s comment off. Sarah took ***** comments personally nowadays, but that was a shocker, no one had called her child a *****. Mel looked back to Matt. “How did it go?”

“****,” answered Matt, tapping his fingers in sequential order on the table, as he was thinking. He sighed. He wasn’t sure about something. Some things didn’t feel right.

“Hey man,” said Brad, as he looked to Mike who had stopped stuffing down his food and realised that Sarah hadn’t given his drink back. He leant over a bit and took it back. “What’s the possibility that we’re going to run into Ravyn and Rob here?”

“What, in a diner?” asked Mike, as he had stopped drinking his water. “Zero to nil. She’s a rich ***** and we’re like hobos right now. Or the feeling says so.”

“No we’re not,” objected Mel. “We’ve all got a stack of cash from our previous jobs, well…” She looked to Matt and looked back to Mike with an uncomfortable look on her face. “You know what I mean. We’re living off cheap greasy fast food and we’re going to get like a discount soon if we eat here enough and we’ve got a hotel to crash out.”

“One that I have to listen to your complaints non-stop,” bitched Brad, as he went back to fiddling with his salad that smelt like…he didn’t want to describe what it smelt like, but it looked pretty good. “I guess it’s my turn to go out job-hunting tomorrow. Is that it?” Everyone nodded as everyone took turns in finding a job. They knew they had a bunch of cash, but they all knew it was going to be wasted on transportation, food, and accommodation and of course, failing that, they hadn’t brought at least a month’s worth of clothes each of them. They gone shopping for the basics, but they knew they were going to go broke pretty soon. The only person that wasn’t allowed to work was Sarah because who would take care of Ava when Matt didn’t know her allergies and Mike didn’t bring the list that reminded him of them; Sarah had thankfully remembered off by heart the allergies. What mother wouldn’t?

“Be a check out chick or do something, do what Mike go and pose as chemistry teacher for a high school,” suggested Mel, just Sarah stopped eating and as Sarah’s mouth dropped to the floor when she heard of such bold actions. “Oh ****. She didn’t know?” Mike shook his head. “Sorry…”

Sarah turned to Mike.

“You ******* did what?” asked Sarah, a bit annoyed that Mike didn’t tell her the truth. The only stupid job that she remembered recalling was that Mel was going for a nuclear medical technician, despite the fact she still forgot the difference between the atomic structure of a cell and plasma let alone how to spell the freakin’ word, nuclear.

“Oops,” muttered Mike, guiltily. “It was a once off thing. I had to do chemistry in order to get this degree, you know? And on top of that, I did it in high school.”

“Yeah, but the only thing wrong with you doing chemistry in high school, is that you got suspended twice for nearly blowing up the labs,” added Brad, as he laughed at such a memory.

“Michael….” Groaned Sarah, she didn’t have the energy to finish off the rest of the energy because the last person she wanted to start acting like was his mother and her mother. Allie was particularly good at nagging, that’s how she got her daughter so straight so quickly within a matter of years of going completely off the tracks and paying for it in the long run.

“I thought I told you, sorry about that,” apologised Mike, as he slouched back into his chair, as he some noticed outside who had just pulled up in a silver car. He ignored them.

“So what job are you going to go for tomorrow, Brad?” asked Matt, trying to make some conversation and stop the silence breaks in between people’s replies.

“I got told by some random and weird guy that working the sewers is pretty good pay, just, there’s a lot of muck about and that’s basically the downside to it,” answered Brad, looking to Mel who was obviously getting bored. “Hey brighten up.”

“I am, there’s nothing wrong, just bored,” replied Mel, looking to what Ava what was doing. “****.”

“What?” asked everybody, amazed by her surprised tone.

“Where’s Ava?” asked Mel, as Sarah and Mike looked to the gap between them and there it was, a gap. No Ava, just an ordinary gap.

“She’s not underneath the table?” asked Sarah, starting to go into panic mode. Where was her child? She had taken her eyes off her for a couple of minutes, and she thought Mike was watching her. Matt stood up from his seat and looked underneath the table. Nothing but people’s bags and feet and some stuff on the floor that Ava had managed to throw on the floor without anyone noticing.

“Not there,” answered Matt, as he stood up just right before Sarah stood up. “I’ll double check for you.” He bent over and looked underneath the table. “Ava? Sweety pie?” No response. Still the same old shuffling feet and the bags that were in the process of being picked up, and Matt stood back up and shook his head. “She’s got to be around here somewhere. We’ve just got to split up.”

Everyone scattered so quickly, Sarah didn’t have time to think and time to take in what had just happened. Not this again, Sarah knew that Ava had a habit of disappearing but she was usually on the other side of her. She didn’t know where to start looking. She briefly looked outside to see someone helping a small child up from the ground.

“Ava,” whispered Sarah to herself, as she ran outside, pushing the door open, and slamming it behind her. “Ava. Honey.” She came to her child’s aid in which she had seemed to have tripped and grazed her knee, and now was crying about it as though it was the end of the world. She looked up at the old man and smiled. “I’m so sorry, she just ran away from me like that.”

“That’s okay, think you better keep a better eye on her next time, darl, don’t you think?” asked the old man, smiling and then continuing his walk to his car from decades ago.

“What the **** have you done to yourself?” asked Sarah to Ava, as Sarah picked her child up as Mike came through the doorway. Sarah turned around and started to walk to the ladies bathroom the clean up Ava. “It’s okay now, I’ve got her.”

“Thank ***,” sighed Mike, as he smiled at the passing child in her mother’s arms and opened the door for the two girls.

“I know, thank ******* ***,” whispered Sarah to herself, as she pushed her way through the crowd of people that seemed to have not moved from when they came in and walked down the hallway to the bathroom. She pushed the entry door open and walked in. She sat her child down on the upper level, right next to the mirror and went to get some toilet paper to soak it with water and eventually clean it. She heard someone come through the front door as she went to the last cubicle to try and find some paper to cleanse her child’s wounds. She heard some footsteps and they stopped from what Sarah figured not too far from where her child sat looking around at the room she had never been in before.

“Why do I know you?” asked the voice, who was obviously female.

Sarah ignored this voice because she was too busy tearing some paper. She finished the tearing process and walked up to the last of the basins, a couple down where Ava sat and started to run the sink. She wasn’t in the mood to look at herself in the mirror or anything right now, she just wanted her heart to regain its normal beat. She soaked the paper under the water, stopped the tap running, and squeezed out the excess water.

She didn’t see her there. But she saw Sarah well and clear.

Sarah attended to her child’s knee, wiping the dirt off her knee, as Ava was looking at something else or someone else. She was in a little but of pain by now, by the grimaces on her face, but she wasn’t looking at Sarah, and Sarah noticed this and she was confused. This wasn’t like Ava. Ava had a tendency to pay attention to Sarah when Sarah was in the middle of doing such motherly things to her.

“What are you looking at?” asked Sarah, as she stopped attending to her child. Ava pointed to a woman that was standing nearby and that Sarah had figured that she had entered before and that she hadn’t paid any attention to. “Oh ****.” Her eyes lit up.

“Oh yeah, ****, precisely,” retorted Amy, standing there with her arms crossed, looking mixed and confused.

~

​

 

[woodyloveslinkin]

Well I figured let's try to finish DS off.

****

​

"Where the **** are you Marco?" was the first question that escaped Ravyn's mouth as she slammed her cell phone shut. She was outside in the courtyard, munching on a divided blueberry muffin that she had managed to buy on her way to work here. She had been finding it out the hard way, how it felt like being a single parent, trying to deal with the kid, work and trying to deal with the man that she thought loved her, that it was difficult. She couldn't afford to let herself go so easily and be easily distracted, it was one of the reasons why she left the hospital and moved here, she was getting distracted easily by the stupidness of the new interns, and of course, of Jo's department. Rob was still imprisoned for the time being and it wasn't bothering her at all, she thought of it at a different angle, at least she could get some peace and mind and try to think clearly without being asked twenty questions. She put her phone down on the glass table and had a pen and a piece of blank paper on it as well. She picked up the pen and started drawing the connections. Rob had the connections to all of the victims, maybe even the suspect, as there was no suspect, still, and despite what Ravyn's personal hatred for Vanessa was telling her,she thought that her professional judgment of the woman was sort of clouded. She stopped as she tried to think off the top of her head, the minor details of each case that she had stumbled upon. Anette, wasn't suicide, it was a planned murder. And then suddenly, her cell phone started ringing, just as she was thinking. She picked up. "Hello Markus."

"Don't ever call me that," replied Marco on the other side of the phone. "How did you know it was me?"

"I've only been trying to call you for the past hour,"

"Where are you now?"

"HQ,"

"I'm coming now,"

Ravyn frowned. She couldn't hear on the line any indication that he was in the car. But he said nothing more to that because they suddenly got disconnected. She didn't stop frowning and couldn't help but to wonder if she was the only soul around the place that remained innocent. She closed her cell and started wondering. Now why did she think that Marco could've been a corrupt cop? She shook her head, telling herself that she was letting her imagination run wild again and the only things that came out of such moves were negatives ones.She didn't have a chance to think anything before the figure appeared before her. It couldn't be.

"Hello," said the woman as she made herself comfortable in front of Ravyn. Ravyn didn't know if she was just there to make her life a living **** on purpose or there for other sadistic purposes.

"Get away from me," Ravyn bluntly replied. Vanessa didn't do anything. "How did you get here? It's a restricted zone. Only accessible to people who work here."

"My friend works here, and I've got a visitor's pass, see," Vanessa explained showing Ravyn the visitor pass.

"Still, you have no business with me, and vice versa," replied Ravyn, ready to get to her feet and walk away from the conversation. "You ruin my relationship with my partner and you're still attempting to make my life ****. Can't we just leave it at that?"

"You have to understand...."Vanessa started but Ravyn interrupted.

"Thanks for trying to make me understand Vanessa, but I don't, I don't understand the whole cheating business, and I sure don't understand why you would do that to me and Rob," Ravyn interrupted Vanessa. "You have no right to be here, this place and a place in my life. Now, I have a criminal to catch." Ravyn gathered her food and her stuff off the table.

"Wait, you have to hear me out," Vanessa tried to stop Ravyn in her tracks, but Ravyn didn't stop. Vanessa got out of her seat and stopped Ravyn in her tracks, by blocking her path. "You have to, at least, hear me out."

"Give me one *** **** good reason why I should?" asked Ravyn. "Not only do I strongly think you're involved with this case, I also tend to think that you're a deceptive son of a *****. And that's me just putting it lightly. I have a murder investigation on my hands and it's a felony to interfere with it."

"I have information, you just need to put personal differences aside for a second," Vanessa managed to grab Ravyn's attention.

"You talk to Marco, not me," replied Ravyn, smoothly, trying to remain calm, but she was finding it hard not to. "Now, Vanessa, I have work to do, and I think you need to get out of here before I end up calling security." Vanessa didn't say anything more to Ravyn as she had concluded that the only person's time that she was wasting was her own. Vanessa unblocked Ravyn's path and disappeared out of sight.

Ravyn knew there was no reason to feel guilty but she started to feel like as though she was on a guilt trip. She continued to walk aimlessly down the busy corridors and down to Marco's office that wasn't too far away where she spent most days in the autopsy rooms eating her apple or filling out medical reports. She put her stuff on his desk, on arrival and collapsed on the lounge opposite his desk. She had hardly been in his office, as most of the time they had spent with the company of the dead corpses. It was lunchtime already and she felt like the day could just drag on forever. That's when she had started to wonder if she should have listened to Vanessa instead of automatically dismissing her. Already, her personal differences were getting in the way of her professional life. She knew she couldn't lounge around waiting or Marco to come back from whatever he had been upto, but she didn't know what else to do. She didn't want to go and see Rob, and she knew that Leo would be busy at lunch at the baby-sitter's place that she had arrange at the last minute. By the time that she had thought everything through she had concluded that it was better for her to go back to her usual spot at the table, hidden amongst various folders and papers rather to sit around for Marco to come back.

"Where is he that *******?" came Jukka's voice as her attention shifted to the figure standing in the door. "Oh hey, didn't see you there. Where's Marco when you want him?"

"I've been asking myself that question all day," answered Ravyn. "He's coming back, he just didn't say when and where ever he's been, I don't know."

"Why the grim tone?" asked Jukka, who was quick to pounce on Ravyn's grim tone in her voice. Ravyn shrugged. She knew why she was so grim, but wasn't in the mood to let one thing lead to another, especially with someone like Jukka. She still had cement feelings for Rob and seeing Vanessa, in her own work place, annoyed her but at the same time put her down a lot.

"Why are you wanting Marco?" asked Ravyn, deliberately changing the subject to avoid the dozen or so questions that Jukka would instinctively ask.

"We've got new leads on the case," answered Jukka, smiling a bit.

"What?" asked Ravyn. "New leads? Who? What? How come?"

"We've got surveillance footage from Anette's building," answered Jukka. "The landlord just came in with it now and we asked for it since her body was discovered."

"Have you watched it?" asked Ravyn, as Jukka nodded. "And?"

"The last people to enter her building were two females," answered Jukka.

"And since when do you have the authority to look at such footage?" asked Marco, suddenly appearing next to Jukka, looking a little unpleased. "Don't bother trying to explain it, I'm not in the mood for going off at a member of staff today, I've had dealings with the local police so I may as well just drown my head in a toilet bowl and somehow hope that an alligator comes out of it and bites my head off."

"What happened?" asked Ravyn, as Marco made his way into his office. Ravyn got to her feet, wanting to know more as usual. "What did the police department want with us?"

"I asked myself that same question," muttered Marco, as he took a seat in his chair and placed both feet on the desk, resting them as usual. "The police come and they **** our investigation up. We've had to basically bargain with the government to hold onto this case, because the little ***** that are drinking their coffees all day long, oh good a muffin." Marco saw Ravyn's food on his desk and stopped halfway in his ***** to fill his mouth with food.

"So if you have nothing to pin Rob to any of this, is he in jail still?" asked Ravyn, suddenly surprised that she actually asked about Rob.

"Isn't it just a fat round of luck that he has every link to the victims?" asked Marco, with his mouth full of food.

"But you said they were two females that entered Anette's building, nothing was said about a male," answered Ravyn.

"So that makes it clear sailing and a get-out-of-jail card for him?" asked Marco, swallowing the muffin. "I'm the investigator here, thank you, Harris."

"And I'm the one that's still in love with that man!" snapped Ravyn suddenly. "You're holding him in there for no reason."

"Harris," Marco started, as he sat up from his chair properly. "This is a federal investigation not a dating charade, and for sure, not one that concerns your personal life. And plus, we can only hold him there for a couple of days and that time is almost up. Don't you have a report that's due to me in three hours that you haven't done at all?" Ravyn nodded slowly. "Then do it, Einstein. And I don't want to see you back in here unless you have that report completed in your hands, ready to hand to me."

"Why were you away for so long?" asked Ravyn, who wasn't going to move that easily.

"As I said before, the police department are little buggers," answered Marco. "And unless there is another crime scene to go to, you are not to leave this building until that report is done."

"Marco, ease off for a second," Jukka interrupted, as everyone's attention shifted to Jukka.

"There's no point, do what you want to do," Ravyn snapped, as she left the room and slammed Marco's door behind her.

​

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[woodyloveslinkin]

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​

"Mike!" snapped Sarah as everyone in the hotel room focused their attention on Sarah and then looked to Mike who was now currently teasing the young child of Sarah's by giving her an object and then taking it away from her before she could get the chance to get it out of Mike's hands. "Don't do it, she's overtired and I'm the one that's going to be dealing with the aftermath tomorrow morning."

"That's why I'm doing it," laughed Mike, jokingly. Brad went back to having his eyes glued onto the television set, as well as Matt and Mel who sat on a bed together. There were two single beds to a motel room and they could only get the last two that remained free for the night. They all the feeling that they would be traveling around a lot and switching from one type of accommodation to another type. Sarah frowned as she went back to watching the television and Mike went back to playing with little Ava on the floor in the corner.

Sarah had left Amy at the diner as she didn't want to linger on what could've been and what should've been. And as hard for it as for Sarah to say that, putting her words to actions was even harder.

"There's **** all on tonight," commented Brad, as he grabbed the remote control off Mel who had dominated the program choosing for the evening, mostly. No one complained about what they were watching, to them, at least they had somewhere to stay for the time being. Brad switched the channel over several times until Sarah told him to stop on a particular channel. It was the news and something about it caught her attention specifically.

It was a man with long hair walking down a pair of steps, as though he was an important figure in the field of politics. He had sunglasses on and it was obvious that the media was focused on him. Mel started to talk to Brad.

"Hey, quiet," Sarah slowly said. "Turn it up." Brad obeyed without any questions asked. Everyone listened carefully to what was intriguing Sarah so much.

"What can you tell us about this case about this case?" asked a reporter.

"I won't be releasing any information about this case just now," answered the man who was surrounded by cameras and a bunch of reporters following him down the steps of a white building. "The FBI are holding a press conference tomorrow and I will be answering all of your questions then, but not now though."

"Investigator -"

"I said not now," interrupted the man on screen who obviously worked for the FBI as an investigator. The man went off screen and the anchorman continued on reporting, as Brad turned it down and looked to Sarah as though he already had a plan up his sleeve. Mike had picked up Sarah's daughter by now and walked across the room with her in his arms. She had rested her head on his arms.

"Give her here," said Sarah, as Mike walked towards Sarah to hand her daughter over to her. Sarah received and laid Ava across her. She looked at the child. "I think it's time for someone to go to bed." Ava rubbed her eyes but shook her head in protest, wanting to stay up with the rest of the adult population that had crowded themselves in one motel room to do various activities.

"Why do I have a feeling that you've got something stuck up your sleeve and it isn't bread crumbs?" asked Mike, focusing his attention on the look on Brad's face.

"I'm thinking that if that guy's from the FBI and the one person we're looking for is Harris, wouldn't it be plausible if we go find this guy and just have a look around for Harris?" asked Brad. Mel pouted and Brad saw Mel's pout. "What's that for?"

"Wasn't the whole purpose of coming here was to get away from the hospital life we enslaved ourselves in, including Harris' attitude?" asked Mel, as Sarah shook her head, as Sarah had diverted her attention to Mel."Wasn't it?"

"We find Harris we find opportunities," Sarah interjected simply, as she got to her feet with her child in her arms. "Ava's sleeping next door. Do her and me a favour at the same time, don't interrupt her. She's tired and she'll cranky at either who ever wakes her up or at me, or even both."

"Night sweetie," Mike said looking at Ava and Ava faintly smiled back.Everyone else followed Mike in saying goodnight to Ava and once that was done, Sarah left the room with the child still in her arms. "What's on tonight? Anything worthwhile?"

"You're asking him?" asked Mel, a bit surprised. Brad shrugged, as Mike's attention was on Matt. Matt was somewhat very silent tonight, but Mike wasn't ready to make a scene out of something so rare. Or so he thought so, as he realized that Matt was the only person that didn't say goodnight to Ava, and Ava was his own biological daughter?

"Why aren't you talking much tonight?" asked Mike, looking at Matt who was staring into thin air. "Hey, Earth to Matt." That didn't disrupt Matt's staring. Mike walked over to Matt and waved his hand up and down in front of his to see if Matt would respond, and respond he did so.

"What?" asked Matt, coming back down to Earth. "What's up?"

"Why the silence?" asked Mike. "You didn't even say goodnight to your own daughter, something must be up. Thought you were a changed man?"

"I am, I'm just thinking about something, that's all," answered Matt. "I'll go and say goodnight to her now." Matt got to his feet and left the room without a fuss being made over his unfortunate ignorance. He closed the door behind him, just as Sarah closed the door and they met each other's gaze. Matt stopped in his tracks. "You will always remain the love of my life." Sarah didn't say anything and continued to walk back inside where the rest of the gang was. Matt just stood there and didn't say anything, as he felt the light disappear off his face from inside the hotel room, as soon as Sarah had closed the door.

​

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[woodyloveslinkin]

****

​

Ravyn looked at the time on the clock as she walked in throw the front door and sighed. It was half past eight and she had only just walked through the door, after picking up her son and coming back from work. Leo stood beside his mother and looked up to her. She looked back at him and wondered how the **** could she ever look at that boy at times and not remember the horrible stuff that Azem did to her in their marriage.

"Have you had dinner?" she asked blankly, as the child nodded.

"Have you?" asked Leo, as she shook her head. "Aren't you hungry?" She shook her head again.

"I'm not really hungry, thanks," answered Ravyn, as she closed the door behind them and the child walked into the the living room. Ravyn was exhausted and almost kicked herself driving home, the first time, almost forgetting to pick up Leo from the babysitter's place. She walked into the kitchen and placed the folders she had in her arm on the bench, she didn't even want to look at them until tomorrow morning.

She couldn't believe it herself, she was so worn down but this was the person that was used to doing shifts until three in the morning back in the old days of working as the head of ICU at Sacred Heart hospital, back in Chicago. She wanted to have dinner but the exhausted feeling inside her was overwhelming, so she ended up having an apple out of the fruit bowl and sat down next to her son who looked like he was going to crash any second on the couch. She turned the volume on the crime drama show down a notch and looked to him for a second. She was about to say something to him along the lines of stop fooling yourself kid, go to be bed, you're buggered, but as always she was interrupted, this time it was by someone knocking at the door.

She was hoping it wasn't work related but last time she hoped along such lines, it turned out to be Marco wanting to get her down to downtown to do her job. She got to her feet and disconnected herself from trying to settle down and have some piece and quiet with the only family she's got in the city right now, and answered the door, after putting the half eaten red apple down on a table on her way to the front door. She wasn't expecting it, but she felt like she was going to have a heart attack when she realised who was at the door.

It was dead silence, as he grinned at her.

"Who's that?" asked Leo, from the lounge room.

"It's me boy," he answered, not removing his menacing eyes from Ravyn's almost scared witless stare. She couldn't find the words to describe how she felt. She just wanted to take her son and runaway, away from him, that's one of the reasons why she moved here, in this new city, was because of him.

"Daddy?" asked Leo, standing up and broke into a run towards his father.

She still couldn't find the words to tell Azem to go away from her property, anyone but him right now. Give her Rob to deal with, and still, he's still better than Azem. At least Rob didn't physically abuse her, he didn't threaten to make her life **** or make her life a short one. Rob just tended to lean to the other side of the pendulum, the heart ripping out of the chest approach. Ravyn couldn't understand it when she saw Leo in the arms of his father, wasn't he meant to hate him because Azem had lied to him throughout his life about his mother's existence?

"How's my boy?" asked Azem, looking to his son in his arms. Ravyn felt like she just wanted to call the police or something, but, she had to tell herself, that he was her son's biological father, also the man who also lied throughout the kid's life about her life on the planet. Leo responded softly and laid his head on his father's shoulder. Ravyn shook her head in disgust. "What's that for?" As he had just seen the shake of her head.

"You don't deserve to know your son after what you did to me," answered Ravyn. "I come here, start a new life without you. I've battled my demons of the past and I'm not going to go back there again. I want you out of this house."

"And are you making this decision based on your disgust of me or on Leo's reaction to my presence in the room?" asked Azem. "I'm here for the boy, not you."

"Bullshit," retorted Ravyn. "You're here to try and make my life **** again."

"You know, the world doesn't solely revolve on your wants," Azem pointed out to her. "I don't want nothing to do with you..."

"Then why in ***'s name are you here?" Ravyn interrupted, as she started to hear her cell phone ring in the kitchen. "Excuse me for a second while I go drown myself in your bullshit." She didn't even think for a second that the person that she was about to pick up to could've been Marco wanting her to go in and stay all night to do more reports. She picked up. "Yeah."

"It's me," said Marco on the other end of the line. She had picked up the worry in his tone easily.

"What's happened?" asked Ravyn.

"You better come down here," answered Marco. "Our office has just been turned into an official crime scene. Jukka's already been told and he's on his way now."

"Alright, I'll go grab my keys and I'll be there as soon as possible," replied Ravyn, as she thought to herself, when is the human race going learn that we weren't born for the purpose of killing one another? Ravyn frowned as she hung up, grabbed her keys and walked back into the entrance hallway, where Azem was still standing. She had to do it, it was either take a child that was about to fall asleep to work or leave him here with his father and let him get some rest in his own bed. She stopped and shook her head again, at him. "I shouldn't be doing this, but I am."

"Then why are you doing it?" asked Azem.

"Because I care about my son," answered Ravyn. "The office has just turned into a crime scene and I've got to be down there as soon as possible. Could you mind him for a couple of hours?"

"Why can't Robert do it?" asked Azem, smugly. Ravyn rolled her eyes at him.

"Because...he's at his mother's place for tonight, she's sick," answered Ravyn. If that is what they call a prison nowadays, she would toast to that. She wasn't in the mood to be made fun of how she can't make any relationship last, and she knew Azem would do it if he ever stuck his unwanted nose in too far in her own personal business. "Please, I'm asking you nicely." Ravyn cringed at her own politeness towards the one man that lived the next day just to see her die another. "I've never asked you of anything, mainly cos I was too scared to, but just do this, not for me, for your son. Okay?" Azem nodded slowly. "Thank you, about ****** time. I've got to go like, ah, now." She came up to the child that was still in his father's arms and gently kissed her son goodbye. She looked at Azem sternly. "Hurt him and you'll never be allowed near him."

"Where's the grog?" asked Azem, innocently.

"Pfft, as if I'm going to tell you," answered Ravyn, as she walked out the door and didn't give Azem a second look.

It was now twenty minutes later and the office that she worked in, was a total disaster. Police and investigators were scattered across the building and trying to get through some people, to get to the actual crime scene was somewhat difficult at times, because they didn't know if she had the correct clearance to pass or not. The building was in lock down mode and even the people who had the correct clearances and passes, were starting to get annoyed with it all.

"Oh well, they're just doing their job," commented Marco as him and her walked down the corridor together to get to the actual crime scene. "Man, I was just starting to get to sleep when they called me about this, I thought it was some sort of sick joke when I first heard about it."

"What do you mean?" asked Ravyn, frowning. "What kind of sick joke?"

"You'll see, trust me on that one," answered Marco as they stopped near a taped off area. "You first." Ravyn didn't know what to expect to be honest, so she continued her journey. "This is the part where your medical talents come into play." She didn't know what to say that so she said nothing. She stopped and she stared at the corpse. She knew the victim. Same clothes, everything from their last meeting. A blue business shirt with black pants and matching heels, but this wasn't a fashion parade. Her face was smothered with blood with her eyes wide open, in front of a pool of red blood. Her right hand draped across her stomach, again, ****** and her pants had been ripped repetitively down the front of them. "So what do you think?"

"What was Vanessa still doing on these grounds at nighttime?" asked Ravyn. "I had asked her to leave me alone, in which she finally did."

"I don't know, still trying to get surveillance footage from security but everyone's either away at the moment, or don't have the authority to obtain the footage," answered Marco, crossing his arms, but she didn't notice, her eyes were surveying the corpse. "COD?"

"I'm not a genius Marco, I need to run a couple of tests to see what killed her," answered Ravyn. "But knowing the girl personally, I know that I'll have to run a tox screening before I do anything." Ravyn knelt beside the corpse. "Her pupils are dilated."

"And what's that meant to mean to me?" asked Marco. "You know how it works, you're the med freak and I'm the gorgeous smart detective."

"*** kill me if the second part ever comes true," Ravyn muttered to herself. She raised her voice to normal level. "When you're scared, adrenaline rushes through you like ****, and it also dilates your pupils depending on how freaked out you are, she was pretty scared. She's banged her head quite bad, judging at this angle." Ravyn lifted the limp head of Vanessa's up to take a closer look at the wound. "Has anyone reported a broken window or something made out of glass being stolen today?"

"We had several things go missing today in the labs, we don't know who took them though," answered Marco, who started to frown. "Why do you ask?"

"She's got glass in her head wound, which logic would have it, she was attacked from behind with a glass object, which should've knocked her out immediately but somehow judging by the dried blood in her hair compared to the blood she's got over her hand, this was the first out of several attacks that she encountered," answered Ravyn. "And yet, she was still alive to hold her stomach."

"I'll get a list of those things stolen then, cross-compare glass samples from the victims to those that were stolen," explained Marco, as Ravyn frowned as she put Vanessa's head carefully back down.

"Now, the blood on her face..." Ravyn muttered.

"What about it?" asked Marco.

"All the blood ran backwards to form that pool of blood, but not forwards and there's no indication that she's had any trauma to the front hairline or the face," answered Ravyn. "But looking at the patterns in the blood, someone was smothering her face with her own blood or something."

"What about the stomach?" asked Marco, as Ravyn diverted her attention to the stomach. She looked carefully at the stomach and lifted the hand up off the stomach gently. She wasn't clenching her stomach, she was holding something in her hand. "What's that?"

"We're about to find out," answered Ravyn, slowing getting the piece of paper from the cold palm of Vanessa's. She quickly handed the crumpled piece of paper to Marco, as she looked at the stomach. "It's as though she's been shot or something. Oh no, here we go again, it's another glassing moment. Whoever did this to her, as far as I can tell right here and right now, she was merely attacked with several glass objects because the glass in this wound seem to be green stained glass. "It's a hack and slash job, I don't think we're dealing with the same person here Marco." She placed the hand back down on the stomach gently, as the piece of crumbled paper slipped her head and she moved on down towards the rips in the victims pants. "The rips in her pants, I can't explain, they're just rips to me. Nothing too medically fascinating, I'll leave that motive up to you." She turned around to face the investigator. He stood there staring at the piece of paper. "What's wrong? What's on the piece of paper, Marco?"

"Nothing," Marco shook his head and his frown disappeared. He looked at Ravyn, sternly. "Take the day off tomorrow, and thanks for coming down, but I want you to show up to this media conference I'm holding. The media are going on one of their field days because of some information that's leaked."What kind of information?" asked Ravyn.

"Just do it," answered Marco, walking off at out of sight.

Ravyn did take his advice but she had to stay back a little bit longer to do some follow up reports on Vanessa. All the way through in writing the reports, Ravyn couldn't help but to think that this was some sort of revenge attack, something had gone wrong, Vanessa did what she did best and backstabbed someone and ended up hurt. Now she had DNA to compare to one of the female chromosomes found on the previous victims, but she couldn't find any motive that could connect Vanessa to any of the victims. But Vanessa did know Rob, and Rob had connections to all of the victims - except for Anette. Why Anette?

She arrived home finally more exhausted then her first arrival. She took a heavily sigh of relief as she closed her car door. She found it hard to even drag her sore legs to the front door, but she persevered onwards, as she told herself that her son was inside and the sooner Azem was gone. She dragged her sore legs through the front door and instantly the smell of alcohol reeked throughout the house.

"****," she automatically told herself, as she remembered the last time she stuck around while he was drunk. She didn't want to remember it but she couldn't help it.

"Mornin' gorgeous," Azem managed to say, stumbling into the entrance hallway. Ravyn rolled her eyes, as she took a step back and opened the front door. She pointed to the black night that laid awaiting on the other end of the door.

"I'm home, now it's your time to go home," Ravyn bluntly said. "I've only let you stay here in the past couple of hours that I've been gone, because if you haven't noticed, our kid is sleeping upstairs, I hope." Azem smiled as he stumbled over to Ravyn and stood over here.

"You're hot," he managed to say, swinging side to side.

"How much have you had to drink?" asked Ravyn. "You must've drunk so much to consider me hot, coming from you." He wrapped a hand around her waist, but she threw him off her. "The door is still open, Azem and it's waiting for you to go through it." He continued to make advancements on her and she could smell how intoxicated he was and the smell of whiskey was strong. "How much have you had to drink and how did you find my compensation stack?"

"Your...stack?" asked Azem, as he laughed.

"I don't care how much you laugh, you're not staying here," reminded Ravyn, removing his hand from her waist. But he put it back on there. "No, Azem."

"Come on have some fun," he replied to her. She removed his hand once again and gave him a smack across the face."Now that was a bit uncalled for."

"Says who?" asked Ravyn. He put his hand back on his waist, and kicked the door shut. "Do you think I have **** written across my forehead or something?" She threw his hand off again, but instead he just replaced both of his hands on her waist and started to force her back against the wall, she naturally resisted. "What the **** do you think you're doing seriously?" She tried pulling him off herself but she was failing greatly as she was overpowered.

"You're just saying that because you're tired," answered Azem, as he finally managed to pin her against the wall. This was the last thing that Ravyn wanted, in any sort of mentality, sane or insane.

"Don't think this has got anything to do with how tired I am," Ravyn clarified, trying to throw him off her but he was too dominating, and too powerful - just like how was before in their marriage. The stench of the alcohol was even worse, when he came in to try to kiss her, but she moved away. She started to try and push him away but all he did was grab her wrists and continue to pin her against the wall. "This isn't funny."

"I'm not laughing," replied Azem, as he attempted to seduce his ex-wife by kissing her neck. She felt sick, she really did. Why was he doing this to her after all the death threats that he had made to her previously? She had to do something, she really needed to do something. So she did something, she knee butted him in the stomach and he let her go. She ran up towards the kitchen to try and ring the police because she knew what he would do if she didn't, but she didn't make it that far. Azem had grabbed her by the hair and started to drag her from it.

"Azem, you have to let me go!" she yelled at him, as he started to drag her upstairs, cringing at both the memories it brought on and both the physical and emotional pain from it.

"You said once upon a time that you loved me, prove it to me now," growled Azem.

"Are you more stupid than I think you are?" Ravyn muttered. She knew if she didn't act quick she would find herself in an uncomfortable position, more comfortable than what she was now in. She was already walking backwards up the steps and she feared the worst. The thing was she couldn't do anything, until he threw her onto the bed and slammed the door after him. She reacted quickly and managed to dash for a sharp object, she felt like she had to protect herself to the point where she would threaten him with a pair of kitchen scissors that she had left up there, trying to cut some old material up. She picked the pair of scissors up and held it menacingly, as she realised that Azem had taken his shirt off. "Don't make me use it, I will use it." Azem just smiled and walked over to her. "Don't make use it, dammit."

"Just drop it," said Azem, relaxed as he came closer and Ravyn took a swipe at him, but missed. He grabbed her wrist and bent it backwards, causing Ravyn to cringe. She was just waiting for a bone to break in her arm, that one tiny crack that told her that she had just broken a bone, or several of them. She wanted to start pleading with him not let go, but she knew what would happen. He literally took the scissors right out of her hands, and tossed them aside. He spun her around and continued in his attempts to seduce her. She tried to fight back, but all he did was retreat from her a little bit and slapped her across the face, just splitting her lip open enough for it to start bleeding. "Just ******* stay still for once."

"No!" she yelled, as she made another dash for a weapon but her attempts failed. "What the **** is wrong with you Azem? We didn't work out because of this reason! We couldn't get along!" He grabbed her wrists and threw her back down onto the bed. She tried to get up but she was forced back down again, as he attempted to unbutton her shirt and try to seduce her at the same time. "What the **** is seriously wrong with you? Get the **** off me!"

"Give me a reason," he requested smoothly, as she felt like throwing up by the smell of him and the amount of alcohol that he had consumed while she was away.

"To start with I'm not your wife and I'm your ex-wife for a good reason," she replied, but he obviously wasn't listening to her. "Why do I try to reason with you at times?" It was obvious that she wasn't prepared to take **** from him physically, but she physically, she didn't have the strength to get him off her, so words were all that she was stuck with.

"Hello?" asked Rob, stepping through the front door downstairs. He looked side to side and didn't see anything, but he could hear some mutter upstairs, it was only faint. "I'm here to get my stuff because I'm out of jail now. Hello? Anybody? Rave?...Leo?" He had been out for about four hours or so, because there had been new evidence that said that he was clear to go. It was unusual for the lights to be on and no one awake. "Rave? Where are you? It's only me." No reply, so he decided to follow the mutter upstairs to see if he could get somewhere with his new life without Ravyn in it. He could hear what was going on now clearly.

Get off me Azem, you're ******* drunk and I ain't going to be your *****...again!

Just shut up seriously woman, you talk too much,

Then stop trying to sleep with me if I talk too much!

Rob barged into his old room that he had once shared the same bed as Ravyn to see a ****** faced Ravyn who was obviously being pressured into doing something that she didn't want to do, especially as Azem hadn't even noticed Rob's presence.

"Rob! Get him off me!" she yelled at the top of her voice not considering that her child was still asleep. Rob reacted quickly, and threw Azem off her. "About time as well."

"What the **** do you think you're doing?" asked Azem, looking at Rob angrily, just before Rob punched Azem in the face. Ravyn seized the chance to quickly redo the buttons up that Azem had undone. Azem looked at him angrily. "**** off seriously."

"No, you're the one that should **** off," Rob calmly said. He was angry and he was finding it hard to withhold it. "Touch her again and my ***, you will be one dead man."

"Yeah, give me a reason why," taunted Azem.

"Because I'm pregnant with his child," Ravyn interjected as she wiped the fresh blood off her face with her sleeve. Rob shook his head as she had done this to him again. Azem didn't know what to say.

"Be here by the time that I count to five, and I will throw you out of a window," warned Rob, as Azem started to stumble out of the room and Rob hadn't even started counting yet. Rob made sure he had left the room and waited until he heard the sound of the front door close. He looked to Ravyn, who had basically thrown her arms around him. "It's okay, he's not here anymore." He patted her softly on the back. "Thank *** for my good timing."

"Yeah," Ravyn replied, almost wanting to cry into the man's chest. There was just silence between the two, and it felt awkward for Ravyn to tell him that she wasn't lying. She in fact was trying to tell him from the day that she had found out and that was when Vanessa was around, but she assumed that Rob thought she was joking. "I'm not lying about it either."

"About it?" asked Rob, as he took her off himself and looked sternly into her eyes.

"That I'm pregnant," answered Ravyn.

"You're joking right?" asked Rob, looking like he wanted to laugh. Ravyn shook her head and his whole expression changed. "How long have you known for?"

"I'm nearly a month pregnant already," answered Ravyn. "I tried to tell you when Vanessa was around but you must've dismissed it as a hoax. I wasn't lying about it." Rob didn't say anything, he was still in the process of trying to process such an announcement.

"And...it's mine right?" asked Rob.

"Who do you mistake me for, Sarah?" asked Ravyn. "Of course it is, who else's would it be?"

"I'm not sure how to handle this news, Ravyn, we're not together anymore and now you tell me that you're pregnant?" asked Rob, a bit hysterical. He let go of Ravyn and started to pace up and down the room, in serious thought. "You're a single mother to Leo and you're expecting me to get back together with you because of this baby?" He stopped, looked at her, and scratched the back of his neck in confusion.

"Am I asking you to?" asked Ravyn. "I'm only telling you, for the second time. It's your own **** fault you didn't listen the first time."

"You should've mentioned it outside the context of Vanessa hanging around and then it would've made a lot more sense that you were being serious," retorted Rob as he stopped scratching the back of his neck. "Look, I came straight here after seeing a friend, to come and get my stuff, knowing that you knew that I still loved you, but in the confusion of loving Vanessa at the same time and...what the **** am I supposed to tell Vanessa?"

"What about nothing?" suggested Ravyn.

"So I go around Vanessa's back pretending that I'm at my job when I'm really here taking care of the kid while you're away at work?" asked Rob.

"You won't even have a Vanessa to report to when you go out, she's dead," answered Ravyn. "Cos you know how I know that she's dead? I did half an autopsy on her not so long ago." Rob fell silent.

"Oh ***, you're not pulling my leg here now are you?" asked Rob.

"Would I ever do that?" asked Ravyn.

"Jesus," muttered Rob, as he left the room, trying to get his mind around what he had been told. "Jesus ******* Christ!" Ravyn followed him only to find out that he was traveling down the stairs rapidly.

"Where are you going?" asked Ravyn, as she was ready to fall down on her knees and outmost apologise to him completely about everything. Azem's sudden attack on her had made her realise how lucky she was to have a man like Rob in her life. "Rob? Where are you going?"

"I'm going to see if I can go kill myself by carbon monoxide poisoning in the car thanks," answered Rob, turning around to face Ravyn at the bottom of the stairs while she stood at the top of them. "Vanessa's dead, you're pregnant and you don't want to be with me. I mean, even as a friend, Vanessa was still okay. I gave up you for her, and when she comes around totally turns her back on me, the only person still facing me through the **** I've given them is you. Why are you still letting me in this household?"

"Despite your insolent your attitude becomes, at the end of the day, through thick and thin, you've always been there for me and for that I love you dearly for it," answered Ravyn, as she broke into tears. "I never said that I didn't want to be with you, tonight. Maybe while you were shoving Vanessa into my face, but not tonight. Leo's still asking where are you, he asks about you more than his own father. What am I supposed to tell him when he asks where is the baby's father? And who's the father? What am I supposed to say to that Rob? Huh? What am I supposed to say when he asks why aren't you back from down the road? I'm not forcing you to come back to me, but we both said some nasty things to each other that day and I admit it, I didn't mean the half of it and I know you didn't mean the half of what you said." Ravyn started to walk down the stairs.

"What are you trying to do tell me Rave?" asked Rob.

"We need you in this household," answered Ravyn, slowly. "I need you as well. Not as a babysitter, but as someone I can cuddle up to at night, someone to make rude comments at the television screen, someone I can vent everything out, I just need that someone to be you." Ravyn stopped in front of him. "Don't you miss me as well?"

"I do, a lot, now that I think of it," answered Rob, softly. "I was starting to miss the stupid things that Leo would come out with and everything that just made this family, our family so unique. I'm not upset that you're pregnant, I'm happy, it means we can build onto the family you've made me miss and adore so much."

"Are you saying this because Vanessa's dead?" asked Ravyn. Rob shook his head.

"She abandoned me completely when I got mistakenly locked up, and even before she did that, I still had that soft spot for you," answered Rob, putting his large arms around her. "We're going to go through with everything as planned?" Ravyn nodded. "Good." Ravyn smiled. "I don't know about you, but I'm buggered and I would love to sleep in that bed of ours, next to the woman that I love most." Rob planted a kiss on her forehead as she led him back up the steps that he had missed so much.

​

****

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[Ravynlee]

"Who do you mistake me for, Sarah?" asked Ravyn. "Of course it is, who else's would it be?"

I'm sorry that officially cracked me up out loud! That was awesome! Sorry but I was enjoying that observation. It harks back to our late night MSN virtual discombobulated / LPF Family chats. Aww. Nicely done
Speaking of -

"We need you in this household," answered Ravyn, slowly. "I need you as well. Not as a babysitter, but as someone I can cuddle up to at night, someone to make rude comments at the television screen, someone I can vent everything out, I just need that someone to be you." Ravyn stopped in front of him. "Don't you miss me as well?""I do, a lot, now that I think of it," answered Rob, softly. "I was starting to miss the stupid things that Leo would come out with and everything that just made this family, our family so unique. I'm not upset that you're pregnant, I'm happy, it means we can build onto the family you've made me miss and adore so much."

OMG. I know sis is the sentimental one on the family but I will gladly admit that part (and the bit after it at the end of the update) was just a heartstring-tugger of a moment. You made me go misty eyed damnit! Aww. Now that really WAS nice. Better than nice. Considering on and off throughout this story Rav's character has been so tough and independant and bitter, that for her to actually open up like that was just a real revelation and brought things to fruition. I remember at the start how everyone feared her and Rob was fighting so hard to get her to open up - and now this. That was freakin sweet, well done.I'll also say Azem's character made me cringe in this update. I think his head is too full of himself. His ego needed that deflating. You had me on the edge of my seat through most of that - that was intense! Oh and as for Vanessa - I'm still left to wonder... who did it?

All I can think is *gasp* Rob?!

 

[woodyloveslinkin]

****

​

It was 10 am by the time that Ravyn awoke to the empty bed. It was silence, just dead silence. She had never had slept in so much, especially when it was a work day.

"****, Leo," she remembered, as she got to her feet and raced to his bedroom. She opened the door to see it empty. She sighed as she thought Rob must've done her a favour and did the carpool for her son this morning, while she was deep asleep. It was one of the things that he had complained about before, being used as a babysitter for her son and it was the last thing right now, that Ravyn wanted out him. She had this stupid media conference at midday and she didn't want to go to it. She wasn't speaking or anything, Marco was the man for that, but she had to stand against the back wall as she watched Marco being the victim of media manipulation. She didn't know how the investigation leaked but she had a bad feeling that it had to do with Rob and Vanessa, especially after Vanessa is sounding like an illegal backstabber. Ravyn couldn't help but to think about Vanessa and whatever motives she had up her sleeves, as she walked down the stairs and into the kitchen to get something to eat. The connection between her and Anette confused Ravyn a lot and probably even Marco more, seeing he was the one with the investigative skills not her really. But when she came to sit down to think about with a piece of toast in her mouth, any dumb *** could see the connection between the other victims and her - she had to know them through Rob. Then she thought about it, she would literally be bewildered if Shiri had some involvement, Shiri being one of Rob's ex girlfriends that she had never seen before, but had heard mention of before. She wasn't sure about who dumped who, because she couldn't care less right, she was too busy enjoying her breakfast.

There was a knock at the door. She didn't want to answer it, thinking that it might be Azem again. So she ignored it. Then the knock was knocked again. So she ignored it again. Third time, lucky, they knocked at again. She sighed as she left the safety of the dining table and eventually ended up answering the front door.

"Why weren't you answering your door the first time around?" asked Marco, as he invited himself into her house. "It's rude you know." He took off his aviator sunglasses and folded them, placing them in the top pocket of his shirt that he was wearing. She closed the door behind him.

"I wish you could've called instead of randomly popping up like this," Ravyn couldn't help but to frown on Marco for that. "It's rude you know." Marco stopped and looked at her sternly.

"I called several times, so instead of wasting my money trying to call you over and over again, I decided it was best that I come over," Marco explained. "The point of my house call is that we've just connected Vanessa to all of the victims, including Anette."

"What was her motive for Anette?" asked Ravyn. "Been trying to figure that one out myself and it's got me in some sort of mental knot."

"We haven't yet found the motive, because she's dead -"

"So?" asked Ravyn, interrupting Marco. "What's that got to do with the price of eggs?"

"But here's the tricky part of it all, she's been doing this all with the help of a partner in crime, so yes, you were right, she couldn't have done this on her own," Marco continued on saying. "Do you know that no matter how many times that I overlook this case, your partner is somewhat involved in it?" Ravyn nodded as she realised that she was standing in her entrance doorway, in her PJs, and pratically straight out of bed. But Marco didn't mind, so she didn't say anything to it. "Or somehow knows you."

"In that I guess, I am popular and I have friends," Ravyn sarcastically replied, still in the process of waking up. "What time is the media conference?"

"It's been canceled," Marco simply answered. "You want to know why?"

"No, I don't want to know Marco, I want to spend the rest of my life trying to figure it out for myself," Ravyn knew she was going overboard with the amount of sarcasm that she was giving Marco right now. "I don't think any reason you have to justify the cancellation of this media field day could be anywhere near to what I'm thinking."

"You should use your imagination more often, Harris, especially when we have in custody right now, another connection to Rob," Marco told Ravyn.

"What do you mean?" asked Ravyn. "He was cleared of the accusations made against him. He's a free man now."

"Not directly talking about him, do you know someone called Shiri Appleby?" asked Marco, as Ravyn told herself that she had some weird magical powers that told her that she could predict the future. Ravyn nodded. "We've found connections between her and the crimes, that she and Vanessa committed. You were right, it wasn't a single woman doing it by herself."

​

****

​

 

[woodyloveslinkin]

****

​

"This is unbelievably insane," Ravyn told Rob as they came through the front door together that night, with Leo running in. She was revealing classified information to him still and yet, somehow she hadn't been caught leaking such information out. It didn't occur to Ravyn at all, that the information that was leaked about this case could have been because of her telling Rob about her days at work and what she had to deal with. "She was sitting there in front of Marco, as though it was some kind of joke. And yet, we have no motives for her at all but we've got evidence to link her to only a couple of the victims." She stopped and turned around to face Rob who wasn't listening at all to a word she was saying but pretended to know what was happening instead. "Please tell me I'm going insane or something, but, shouldn't we have enough evidence, that being DNA evidence, to charge her with at least murder? We're talking about second degree murder if she's found guilty in front of a jury, that's if she ever gets that far."

"Okay, just settle down, you're way ahead of yourself here," Rob tried to calm her down, closing the door behind him, as they stood in the entrance doorway. Ravyn couldn't help but to not feel so comfortable standing in this hallway because of Azem's ego the previous night. "Do you want me to put something on or not?" Ravyn wasn't listening to a word that he was saying, she was in the middle of her own world. She walked away suddenly, past Leo who had stationed himself in front of the television and through the kitchen. "What the **** Rave?" Rob instinctively followed Ravyn. Ravyn and him just outside the kitchen. "What's wrong with you tonight?"

"I can't be in that entrance hallway, I just can't," answered Ravyn. "Azem's back to ******* with my head, I'm sorry, he's really starting to get to me. Last night, oh ***, if you hadn't come someone would've ended up in jail. He's back doing his day job and doing what he does best."

"Why is he even back?" asked Rob, sternly. "What? He thought doing his job back in Chicago without you being there was too much for him?"

"I was thinking the same thing," answered Ravyn, bluntly. "The only reason why I didn't cause a scene last night when he came was because of Leo was just metres away. I don't want my kid growing up to be like his father, seriously. That's the last thing that I want Leo to be." There was a knock at the door. "If that's Azem, I'm at the police station reporting him."

"Why haven't you already done so?" asked Rob. Ravyn didn't answer him. "He tried to rape you and he assaulted you. If that was someone else in your position, you would've told that girl that she was stupid to let a man trample over her. What the **** has gotten into you, Rave?" The person knocked again.

"Mummy!" yelled Leo from the television room. "There's someone at the door."

"I know sweetheart," she replied back to him, as she refocused her attention back onto Rob. "Just let me deal with it in my own way. The only reason why I allowed Azem to stay was because I got called out, suddenly and after that, it's not like I didn't want him to leave."

"I'm not accusing you of not wanting him to leave," Rob clarified. "I'm accusing you of something else. Now I'm going to get the door, if that's alright with you."

"Did I object to you getting the door?" asked Ravyn, as Rob shook his head and left her sight. "Then what's your problem then?" Ravyn found herself getting cranky over something so small, as she retraced her footsteps and concluded that she was better off calming down with her son beside her, so that way, she would resist going off at her son, hopefully. She had realised over the past few days that her and Leo's communication skills had been dramatically reduced down to greetings and questions relating to meal times. She looked to her son and put her arm around him, but that didn't stir the child's eyes from being fixated on the flashing television screen. "How was your day today, Leo?"

"Good," Leo managed to say, but didn't deter his eyes from the television screen. Ravyn sighed as she felt like she was failing already at being a mother to him.

She told herself that he had been out of her life for quite few years and Azem did make her think that he was dead. She saw so much of Azem in him, still. Leo didn't say anything to her after that and made her feel like a beached whale with him. She shook her head, as she remembered she was the one that was supposed to bring him up with her ways and her morals on life, because frankly, considering the past that her and Azem had together, teaching Leo Azem's morales would be social suicide for her. She needed something to talk to her son about, but she didn't know what. Parenting had just gotten a bit tougher for Ravyn, somehow.

Rob reentered the room with a grim look on his face and sat down on the other side of Leo, knowing that Ravyn would be quick to notice the expression on his face. He didn't even want to talk about it, but he knew she would nag at him to tell her what was wrong with him. He knew she was going to ask about who was at the door and Rob wasn't sure if it was the most appropriate time to tell her about the little visits that his ex partners had been giving him at work. First it was Vanessa, Vanessa went away and Rob had a bad feeling who had killed her and why. He couldn't tell anybody, for the sake of everyone that he loved sakes.He sighed as Ravyn looked over and Leo and frowned a little bit.

"What's wrong?" asked Ravyn.

"I don't want to talk about it," answered Rob, as he got to his feet. "I'm going for a walk."

"Rob," Ravyn started, but Rob had already left the room, leaving Ravyn a little bit confused about what was going on his head and heart. Was he leaving already? Now Ravyn was worried. Or was it because she was paranoid about him leaving?

He left the house, slamming the door behind as he walked down the pathway that led up to the door and trudged along the front lawn. It was already a cold night and he was surprised, with it being so close to Christmas, it hadn't started to snow yet. He had known from day one who it was, but he pretended not to know, just to cover his ***. He knew that she was in it from day one along with Vanessa and it was only going to be a matter of time until she gets formally charged with second degree. Why couldn't he work up the guts to tell his partner that was working on the same case? After all, he hadn't squealed at all, even though he had gotten wrongfully imprisoned for something that she did.

"You're out so soon," she said, behind him, in her winter coat, as Rob, who was just in a black jumper turned around to face her. "Why is that? Didn't say that dinner was done? What's is it going to be, this time? You were always good for making up excuses."

"This is so wrong what I'm doing for you, Shiri," replied Rob, shaking his head.

"Then why are you doing it then?" asked Shiri, innocently.

"Because you know well why I'm doing it," answered Rob, smoothly, as he stopped shaking his head. "I don't know about you, but I don't want to see my family to get hurt."

"They won't get hurt as long as you play by the rules and you know what the rules of this game are, it's really simple, Robert," retorted Shiri, as her long blonde hair flowed over her shoulders and the street lights highlighted her green eyes. "You know the drill." Rob shook his head. "You're going to do it."

"I can't, and you know this little charade that you've got going, won't last forever," Rob quietly replied. "Remember, the moment you chose to play silly buggers with the FBI was the moment you got me tangled up in this mess. Vanessa wanted out and that's why you got rid of her." Shiri shook her head. "Now you're just lying. I know the truth and don't play with my head as well. I know how good you play mind tricks on people, and if I wasn't so stuck in one of your mind games, I would pack up and leave this town."

"But you've got other people to think of," smiled Shiri. "You've got Ravyn assisting with the investigation and you've got to think of little Leo as well. What about everything you've built your life on here? Your cafe? Your reputation as a business man?"

"This is blackmail," whispered Rob, as he saw his own breath turn into vapour.

"Just do what you do best and don't pretend you know anything," Shiri ordered. "Remember, if I'm caught, you're going down with me as well. You are the one that helped move the bodies around and you'll get done for helping us. Just remember that when you go into bed tonight, all nice and cosy next to her. Knowing that you're the one sleeping with the enemy." Rob didn't know what to say as she blew him a kiss. "Catch you later." She waved goodbye to him and left him out in the cold by himself.

It was now about half an hour since he had left the household, and he walked through the front door and found that all the lights were off. Everyone had gone to bed in the time frame that he was outside lingering about, talking to his ex girlfriend and contemplating about leaving town completely because of his fears that someone that was close to his heart, Ravyn for an example might end up hurt because of him. He sat on the lounge, staring at the blank television screen, sitting on the couch, wondering what the **** to do from now on.

​

****

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[Ravynlee]

**** you Shiri! Just when it seemed like things were sorta settling down to a quasi-happy ending...

Mind you kudos on Rav and Leo I say. Babysitting your nephew sure opened your perceptions on parenting I see, short but sweet and to the point. I like. Wondering though what Rob will do - isn't it funny out of all the band members and the 2 that usually get the most attention, Rob's the most angst-ridden lead character in what 80% of current or recent LPF stories... wow... says a lot doesn't it?

Keen to see how this will all end.

 

[woodyloveslinkin]

****

​

It was nine in the morning and already for the gang that had given up their lives in Chicago, it felt like the middle of the day for them. So many things had gone wrong and the day had barely started. Sarah forgot to pack half of Ava's clothes when she had decided to suddenly drop everything and leave in a rush, Mike was being difficult and wouldn't shut his mouth. Sarah found this extremely annoying because Ava was in the middle of a tantrum about not wanting to get dressed. Brad and Mel had been in an argument since day had broken and Matt sat around and did what males did best - nothing. All of them were hungry because they hadn't thought ahead from last night's meal and forgot to get something that'll fed everyone. It took Sarah an hour to settle her nerves down with everyone, including her own child, she felt like the cracks were just starting to appear and someday, she would snap big time.

"Come on, the shops are going to be open now," said Brad, looking to his watch and then back to everyone else who stood around in a circle, with Ava in Mike's arms, outside their rooms and underneath the warm D.C. sun. "We've got enough cash on us, we'll go to a cafe down the road or something."

"There's a cafe that looked rather interesting, we passed it the other day," Mel added. "Like he said before, we've got enough cash and it's a quick solution to food." Sarah nodded slowly, Mike didn't notice he was too busy playing with Ava, Matt nodded as well. "Problem solved."

"We're walking I take it?" asked Sarah.

"You've got a better solution Einstein?" asked Brad.

"Just asking innocently," Sarah explained as they walked off together like a pack of hungry wolves. Sarah wanted to talk to Mike desperately about their relationship and whatever future they had together.

Mike hadn't talked about getting engaged or married since the news of the next arrival was announced and Sarah worried about how the littlest of sparks could trigger off a series of unpleasant events and probably end up with him leaving her, in fact when she thought about it deeply, there wasn't anything stopping him from leaving her right now. She looked to see what Mike was doing, he was still entertaining the little child of hers. She sighed as she thought more about the possibilities of where their relationship might end up. She couldn't help but to feel a bit distant from him lately. It was like, the love had died completely and that he was only staying in the relationship because he felt sorry for her to have to raise the child of a man who wouldn't care two hoots about his own daughter. But that was Matt for you, anyway, she concluded, he had always been emotionally disconnected from Ava and Sarah from day one, he could never commit to anything, other than drinking, for more than a couple days at a time. That's where she had gone wrong with him since day one, and that's how she ended up being a pregnant teenage mother. It's taken her so long to admit it, that she couldn't change the man that Matt was and ended up changing her ways in order for him to be happy with her. She found out the hard way that life and relationships don't work that way. She felt like she was in the same boat with Mike now a bit, their commitment to each other had been taken down a notch suddenly without any notice, the love wasn't just there anymore. That's when it struck her, should she be the one to leave Mike despite the fact that she was already pregnant with his child?

She shook her head as she lowered herself back down to earth, as she knew her heart had a way of deceiving her more than anything else right now. They stopped at the front of the cafe as everybody continued to contemplate options for breakfast. Brad and Mel wanted something else now, Matt wasn't saying anything and Mike was looking at Sarah a bit worried by her deep-in-thought expression upon her face. He knew that whenever Sarah was contemplating something serious, it always showed on her face. Sarah didn't even hear Matt, Brad and Mel say their goodbyes to her and Mike as they walked off further down the street in search for some better food.

"What are you thinking?" asked Mike, walking up to Sarah and stopping. Mike put Ava down on the ground. "Do you want to talk this over breakfast instead of out here?" Sarah nodded silently as she knew she was about to make a big mistake that would cause a lot of heartbreak. They walked in together, sat down at a table and Sarah pretended to focus on what she wanted for breakfast, without thinking about Ava. "What's on your mind? And why the sincere face?"

Sarah swallowed hard as she tried to find the right words to describe how she felt. She felt bad for thinking such thoughts, considering how much Ava loved Mike's company, but it wasn't like Sarah was going to shut him out of her child's life completely and forever. She still hasn't managed to achieve that with Ava's biological father.

"I don't think we should continue on with this relationship," she said softly. Mike looked stunned to hear those words coming out of Sarah's mouth and in her position. "I know what you're going to say, but I've decided that it's for the best of us. And whether I keep the child or not, that can be discussed not right here."

"You have to be joking me, Sarah," Mike replied. "What about Ava? Have you even thought about how Ava might feel about this?"

"Mike, she doesn't understand a lot of things, let alone how I feel right now about where I stand in this relationship," Sarah argued, softly. "I'm doing this because this relationship to me, is starting to fail and I'm going to put my foot down before someone ends up severely hurt."

"And what about the child?" asked Mike. "It's mine too."

"And I'm the one that has to carry it so therefore it's my choice," answered Sarah. "This is not the place to discuss such matters, so please don't continue this topic right now."

"And you're the one that decided to break it off with me knowing full well that you're carrying my child, and what are you going to do next to me, Sarah?" asked Mike, obviously angry but still keeping his voice down. "You're going to ask for child support payments from me? Like **** you aren't. You're just like you were with Matt and Chaz, Sarah, you really are, you haven't changed at all." Mike got to his feet as did Sarah, and blocked his way.

"I'm not doing this to get money out of you, there's just no love in this relationship and the more I see you, the more confused it makes me about how I feel about you," Sarah tried to explain but Mike just shook his head. "I can't keep on living what seems too good to be true. Yes, I was over the moon that Ava had someone to play with, I was over the moon that I was being loved again, but seriously Mike think about it, the love was there for two days basically and then I conned myself into thinking that you were doing what was right by me and Ava."

"This is unbelievable what I'm hearing, Sarah, you have no idea how you've made me angry," replied Mike, pushing his way past Sarah as Sarah stood there with tears rolling down her eyes. She looked to Ava who looked confused.

"Where's Mike going?" asked Ava, who seemed confused but in a sad way.

"Mike's gone, no more Mike," answered Sarah to her child.

"No, Mike doesn't go," complained Ava, as she got to her feet, and started to run after Mike, but Sarah caught her child and held her with a tight grip. She screamed for Mike to come back, as Sarah sat down and held her child, tightly.

"That was a move I wouldn't have expected you to make," said a voice that Sarah knew so well. She looked up to see the tall figure of the man that would've been the last person on the planet that Sarah would thought she would run into. "Not a very good image for my cafe, but I'll let you get away with it, just this one time."

Sarah slightly smiled.

Rob.

​

****

​

 

[woodyloveslinkin]

****

​

They stood outside the crime scene with an exhausted look on each other's faces. Marco and Ravyn looked to each other, as Marco offered for Ravyn to be the first person to go underneath the tape that separated them and the world outside crime.

"No, you can go first, you're the investigator, I'm just your walking medical dictionary," Ravyn openly offered. "I wonder at times who is the investigator at times. Is it just me, or does most of the bullshit that you come out with seem highly illogical at times?"

"You're a woman, you can't make sense of the opposite *** most times," replied Marco, swiftly, as he ducked underneath the crime scene tape, as Ravyn couldn't help to be thankful that a male actually admitted a well known fact to every women that walked this earth's surface. Ravyn followed him without another word said until they stopped at the house. "Sorry, but ladies first in this case." Marco opened the door for her to go first but she didn't argue.

She should've seen it coming for some reason, it was like a reflection of how Anette was killed, but only more down to earth. Killed in his own home, killed with his own cutlery and probably killed by a trusted friend. The reason why Jukka hadn't been turning up to work these past few days, laid right in front of them. Ravyn had a sickly feeling that ran straight through her spinal cord that there was a kind of hit list that the perpetrator of these crimes, most likely Shiri, that was going on. She stopped as Marco looked like he was about to throw up his breakfast again, like he did in Anette's garden last time around, and contemplated - what if there was some sort of list that needed to be crossed off and it just happened to be the people working on this case?

"She's getting bored of killing civilians," Ravyn slowly said as Marco straightened himself and focused his attention on her rant. "She's starting to get sloppy in her killings, she's not putting as much effort into her killings anymore. She's got a hit list and our team is now on it. It's an obvious pattern Marco, even I can spot it and I'm not even trained in whatever you did to get where you are now. I went to med school and you went to law school, right?' They faced each other and Marco nodded. "See, by sheer luck I was right for once. Lucky me."

"COD?" asked Marco, just wanting to cut to the chase, as Ravyn rolled her eyes and walked over to the dead corpse of Jukka, which laid sprawled across the floor, with his hand over his stomach and head in a ****** pool, just the same position that Vanessa had died. "Mistake me if I'm wrong here, Harris, but this is the same way that Vanessa died, same position-"

"And same COD," Ravyn interrupted. "I did the normal everything's on Vanessa and she died from a blood clot in her brain. Jukka has dilated pupils indicating an excessive adrenaline rush which would've left to over-stimulation of blood to the brain causing the blood to clot as a result of lack of oxygen due to missing a heartbeat. They were stabbed the same way and they both had the same motive, they were being attacked."

"However, the theory we've got holding for the death against Vanessa by Shiri, is that Vanessa somewhat double crossed her and Shiri chucked the ***** and killed her, why would she do the same to Jukka?" asked Marco. "There's no evidence to even suggest that Jukka had corrupted this case." Ravyn got up and faced Marco.

"Then how the **** did the confidential information leak to the ears of the press?" asked Ravyn. "Unless you whole-heartedly leaked the information to the press yourself and nor did I, there's only one person that would've been alive to do that, because heck, I don't think Anette could mysteriously rise up from the dead and give them classified documents."

"So are you suggesting that Jukka was leaking classified information to the press?" asked Marco, as he shook his head. "I've known Jukka a lot longer and better than you have, the man wouldn't do that to his friends let alone do that to his own reputation."

"No I'm suggesting that you should replace the water in the cat's bowl with milk, of course I'm ******* suggesting that," Ravyn back sarcastically.

"So what are you going to come out with next?" asked Marco, ignorantly. "That Anette was also involved in ******** the FBI over?"

"No, what I'm thinking there's a hit list on this case, and for some reason, this case is so sensitive that someone's willing to kill everybody on it, and Anette was just a warning for us to back off, and we ignored that warning," explained Ravyn.

"Harris, when you go to law school at Harvard and you walk in these shoes that I'm currently in, then you can speak, but right now, you said it yourself, your my walking medical dictionary," retorted Marco. "I'm the investigator here, now let me do my job." Ravyn didn't know what to say but she wasn't going to leave without a fight.

"There are only two people remaining on this case, and that's you and me, someone's going to get hurt if we don't act now," Ravyn tried to get the message through to Marco, but he was being a typical male and wasn't listening. Marco was a man of high status and of high ego as well. Marco tried to turn away from Ravyn but she wasn't about to give up a fight that she could easily win if she used the right tactics. "We have to hold Shiri under arrest as long as possible, we have enough evidence to hold her under arrest."

"But you know the DA's office, Harris, as well as I do," Marco turned around and faced her. "We can't convict of her crime just yet, the lab results haven't come back and ballistics are being jack ***** with me and not doing what I tell them to do. If you want to hold her under arrest, I suggest you go face the judge yourself and whatever little evidence we have against her."

"Her chromosomes and DNA should be enough to convict her," she argued.

"But what about her alibi?" asked Marco. "She's got an alibi and she's got a **** well good one. Why Harris are you so suddenly eager to put Shiri away for a crime she probably didn't commit?"

"Because it makes sense to me now, she killed Vanessa for a reason and that reason might well end up being the theory we have right now, she killed her because Vanessa double-crossed her," Ravyn continued. "I may not be a qualified investigator but I'm a qualified doctor and what I saw just then is exactly what I saw on Vanessa, they were both scared to death from something and whatever Shiri has managed to scare them with obviously worked because they're both stone dead. I can stick two and two together the same as you can. The reason why I'm like this is because I'm pregnant and I'm ******* scared to death about the future of my child and my other child. Is that a good enough reason for you Marco?" Marco didn't say anything, he was more shocked and surprised then angry right now. Marco nodded his head slowly. "Even if I wasn't, it would be common sense to protect another human being." There was just silence. "You need to get Shiri detained long enough for those results to come back, or it might be the death of you or me."

"I'll see what I can do, but I can't promise you anything," Marco replied. "And oh, congratulations on the new one." Marco walked off as he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and flipped it open. He dialed someone's number and started talking.

"Arrogant *****," she said to herself as she crossed her arm. She felt like she had just talked to a brick wall during that argument and what made it worse, is that talking to brick walls and talking to one's self was worse. She felt like most of the time when trying to talk to Rob was that she was talking to herself and tilling her own grave in the middle of the house.

​

****

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[woodyloveslinkin]

****

​

Ravyn sat at the dining table later that evening, just toying with the noodles and the various meats that she had prepared to give Rob a break from cooking. She had picked up Leo, bathed him, fed him, tucked him in and made sure that he was sound asleep. She looked at the clock on the wall, it told her it was half past nine and still Rob wasn't home. She frowned as she put her fork down on the table and covered her face with hands. She closed her eyes, wanting her to wake up to see her partner opposite her. She was over-tired and she was tetchy. She had tried to calm herself down by saying that she shouldn't jump to conclusions because they were baseless. She removed her hands from her face and opened her eyes.

To her disgust, there was no Rob sitting opposite her. It was still an empty chair.

She got to her feet, ignoring the half-eaten bowl of food that she had cooked for herself and her partner and walked to the television room. She sat down and turned the television on, wanting to avoid her true feelings, she was trying to ignore her true feelings.

The emptiness.

The loneliness.

Why did she feel this way?

She had everything to live for, a wonderful child and a partner she had just regained.

Why? She asked herself several times, trying to ignore the voices in her head as she watched the various images flicking across the plasma screen of the television.

"Mummy?" asked a tiny voice at the other end of the room. She looked up, with her eyes glazed over with water and the water was reflected by a small lamp nearby. Leo was standing at the other end of the room in his green and blue space PJs.

"What?" she bluntly asked, not meaning to be so blunt.

"I can't sleep," he answered, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"Come here," she summoned with a hand gesture and the child followed her request. She welcomed her son into her open arms and enclosed him in her arms in a hug only a mother could give. "Why couldn't you sleep?"

"Thinking about Daddy," Leo answered. She rolled her eyes but looked understanding quickly, to cover up her true opinion about the child's father. "Don't understand."

"What don't you understand?" asked his mother, as she lent back onto the chair and started to rock the child in her arms, hoping that would send him to sleep. "He's your father, there's nothing more to understand, baby boy."

"Why don't you like him?" asked Leo, looking to his mother for answers. His eyes were like hers, but in so many other physical characteristics he resembled his dreaded father. She didn't want to say anything to her son that would turn him against his father. She didn't want to do that, even as much as she hated the man, she wouldn't turn any child against their biological father. She could feel the large scar on her back starting to throb. It was a thing that she wanted to forget but, he remained not forgiven. She shook her head, refusing to answer that question. She had answered it once before and she was about to repeat the painful look in her eyes as she recalled what Azem had done to her.

"Did you have fun today?" asked Ravyn, changing the subject completely. It was called avoiding the question and she was the top scorer in that game. The child nodded as he rubbed his eyes with both of his hands. Ravyn stopped rocking the child and just held him in her arms. He started to cry. "Okay, you're over-tired and cranky pants. I can't carry you to your bed because last time I did that, I swear I dislocated several bones in my back." She lowered her voice a little bit to add something that she couldn't resist but to say. "It was carrying you for nine months or carrying Azem's bullshit on my back all the time." There was a noise outside but Ravyn ignored it. "Come on, off to bed." She was telling herself that she was starting to bite off more than she could chew with parenting Leo at times but she chose to be ignorant of this fact. She put Leo down on the couch beside her and got to her own two feet. She had one outstretched palm indicating for the child to take it and he took it. She didn't get her son at times, especially in this case. He complained that he couldn't sleep but here he was nearly dead to the world around him. He took her hand and got to his little feet. She walked him up to back up to his bedroom and tucked him once again in his own bed that had various cartoon characters printed on the covers.

"Mummy..." he started again, slowly.

"Yes darling," answered Ravyn. "What's the matter?"

"Where's Robbie?" asked the child.

"I would know where he was if he was here at home but he isn't so I can't answer you on that one," answered the child's mother. "Do you want me to read you a book?" The child nodded. "What book?"

"Any," answered Leo, not being picky about what he wanted. A trait that he hadn't inherited from his mother as most of the time she was picky about she wanted and when she wanted something, things usually went her way. Ravyn saw a book on Leo's bookshelf with a green spine and at random, decided to read that one to her son. She walked over and selected the green book that read The Little Book of Little Wonders for Little Ones. She sat next to her son, against the wall and started to read the book.

It was just past twelve now, as Ravyn woke up next to her son. She wondered what had happened for a second and then realised that she had fallen asleep reading the book to Leo and next to him. She had her arm wrapped around her son while he cuddled into his mother. She removed her arms from around the small child and picked up the book that had fallen into her lap. She closed the book and slowly removed herself from laying on her son's bed. She put the book back in it's original place and turned the lamp that was still on, off. She had to readjust her eyes for a second to the dark and slowly made her way towards her own room with her own bed in it. She closed Leo's door slowly and stopped to look around in the hallway to check for any signs of Rob's arrival back home.

There wasn't any that she could see, as she went downstairs to turn the television off that was still on and all the lights that she had on. Some of the lights that she had turned on earlier in the evening were turned off, like the kitchen lights for an example, she remembers specifically not turning them off, and here they were, turned off. The television was off as well and the only lights that were on, were a couple of lamps around the living room, the entrance hallway lights and some garden lights outside. Someone had been inside and had done her the favour of turning everything off.

She frowned for a second thinking that Azem must've invited himself in again and tried for another shot of committing an illegal and indecent act. But she wasn't a hundred percent sure and that was the only thing that was stopping her from calling the authorities right now. She turned around and headed back upstairs to check her bedroom for any physical existence of her ex-husband. She noticed the light in her room was turned on and that she could see someone inside. But she noticed one thing as well, the guest bedroom, the door was closed, it was never closed, as it always remained open. She brushed the awkwardness and strangeness of such an occurrence off, as she continued her journey to her bedroom.

Finally, she arrived there and slowly opened the door. She half expected to see Azem and at the same time half expected to see Rob. A wave of relief overwhelmed her as she saw a topless Rob standing in the room and looking at her in the doorway.

"Where have you been?" asked Rob, looking a bit accusing.

"I fell asleep in Leo's room, I just woke up then," answered Ravyn, as she entered the room and closed the door behind her. "Where were you at dinner time?"

"I had stuff to do and people to see," answered Rob. "Is that now illegal?"

"I'm just saying," answered Ravyn. "You used to complain that I was never home for dinner and now it's the complete opposite, you're the one not home for dinner."

"I'm trying my best, you know I am a businessman and I do have a lot to do around this time of the year?" asked Rob, as Ravyn nodded and walked straight for the bed. "How is the little man?"

"Overtired," Ravyn simply answered. "How was work today?" She climbed under the covers and hide her face in the pillow.

"Could've been better," muttered Rob, but it was loud enough for Ravyn to hear it. "I ran into the most interesting person today."

"Yeah, concerning interesting people, Rob, why is the guest room door closed?" asked Ravyn.

"I was just getting to that," answered Rob.

"You're not keeping your mistress in there are you?" joked Ravyn, as she smiled at her own joke.

"No, I only keep one and that's the one that sleeps next to me at night," Rob continued on with the joke. Ravyn continued to smile as she the lights go off and the next minute feel Rob climb into bed next to her. "How was your day?" She felt his cold hands wrap around her waist and slowly felt the covers being pulled off her. She frowned and tugged the covers back over her. She hated when Rob took all the blankets.

"Had better," she shortly answered. "Answer the question, why is the guest bedroom door closed?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," he answered.

****

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[Ravynlee]

Very sweet - I was worried there for a second with a knot in my stomach thinking Azem was back *insert freaked out smilie* But glad to see at the end of it Rob was not only back but back with a sense of humour. That was sweet. Okay so hiding his ex in the house maybe is not so great (maybe?!) but... well will be interesting to see what his explanation for that will be. Overall yeah great as always. Amazed I almost forgot a few of the details there (her back etc) so that was a good refresher, thanks for that. Looking forward to more. Actually looking forward to seeing how you sort this all out, Shiri's role and if Rob's secret pact with her ends up exposed. Oh and I didn't mention it before so sad about Sarah and Mike too, they seemed so happy together! **** man... no one's ever happy are they

Awesome.