Don't Run ----> From Me, [OPEN]

[Edward Beck]

“No.. No.. Fuck me sideways!” The voice twisted those last words and punctuated them with the crash of a loose fist on a keyboard.

The headphone crashed to the floor of the van and Detective Beck pushed up from the wheeled chair. Double doors of the windowless van swung open with a crash into the busy street. The leather jacket hung loosely about the man’s shoulders and framed the brilliant shine of a badge on a rectangle of black leather hanging from his neck. As soon as boots hit pavement a hand reached up along a ribcage and came free with the blocky, angular form of a sidearm.

“Eddie!” A slender face framed by golden hair ducked partway out of the van, “Wait!”

He turned shoulders walked backwards as two arms leveled the gun downwards and pulled back the cocking mechanism to put a bullet in the chamber, “Anders is hung out to dry. You tell metro I’m down there and get fucking S.W.A.T. involved if you have to.” A small crowd had started to gather on the sidewalk to gawk at the display, but Eddie ignored them, turning and putting out a palm to shove through.

He faintly heard the female detective let out a curse just as he hit the blocked stairwell to the subway and vaulted the wooden panels boarding access. Feet hit the concrete steps and he clambered downwards into one of the places where you found absolutely no police presence. The fucking subways, filled with what was normally forced from the streets by patrol officers. That was his primary territory, not that he felt safe down there, hence the lead filled condom in his hands.

Metro division had scene it fit not to give him proper access to backup for this buy and now a good man was in danger. That wasn’t acceptable because somebody owed him a goddamned sixer and getting killed on a job was not a valid excuse. Eddie gripped the weapon low and sprinted into the tunnels, ducking quickly into a side door and moving out into a large open area. There were several hobo fires burning happily in large oil barrels with people gathered around. They scattered quickly with a hiss as Eddie came pounding through…. What was this? Some sort of low budget version of Mad Max..?

As he reached up and pushed through a horribly wet piece of canvas Eddie finally burst into the scene. The undercover officer, all sweat and in torn flannel was pushed up against the wall, a larger man with a dirty mane of dreadlocks holding him there with what looked to be a dull knife close to his neck. On the table there was a backpack with the green of cash poking out and a series of white baggies.

The detective brought up his weapon at the man, “Police, put the fucking knife down!” There was no sarcastic smile on the bearded face as he steadied the weapon and fingered the trigger.

A sweat stained beard of the dealer came around and as a bare arm pulled Anders from the wall with a grunt and turned him towards Eddie. There was a moment of silence as the undercover detective was held there with the knife to the excited pulse of the jugular. There even was was a placid moment of peace before time snapped and the officer was shoved forward hard over the trash littering ground. Eddie lowered his gun and spun a shoulder, letting his fellow officer slide by as the dealer grabbed the backpack and ducked out of the room on a dead run.

“You ok? Metro is coming, sit tight.” Beck didn’t wait for a response before vaulting the table on a palm and bursting from the canvas into the ‘cavern.’ His eyes moved about the room until they caught the spin and slide of running shadow against the wall. “Fuck no…”

And the chase was on…

[Natalie Roca]

The call burst forth loudly upon the radio in the dark blue sedan Nat was driving. Reaching to turn up the volume she groaned at what she was hearing. She had heard about the deal going down and the low end of back up that was placed. Low end, her ass...try none. She had purposly been in the area, close but not right on sceen, she didn't want her ass jumped by the captain for getting in the way. Jerking the wheel she flipped the car around at the end of the street, and not to the delight of a couple other drives that pressed horns and flipped her off. She didn't turn on siren, though she did speed up, hitting the other end of the block from where she knew the next subway stairs were going to be.

The car jerked to a halt and several people stared as she shoved the door open, almost leaping out of the vehicle as she threw the door shut again. It slammed with a loud bang that got even more attention. Not saying a word she grabbed the zipper on her jacket and as she took off at a run, skipping down the stairs of the subway she pulling out her weapon. One hand gripped it solidly as she tugged the earpiece she always wore and placed it against her ear, turning the volume up a little bit so that if anythimg more came over the radio she would hear it. She knew she was going to get the shit yelled at her for not telling anyone she was on scene, but she didn't want to risk alerting the bad guy if case Beck had his radio on.

Her eyes scanned over the faces of the startled homeless as she came running through, dodging this one and that one, over hearing the complaining from them as she zipped past. Slowing a bit as she got closer and closer to where she had heard the call coming from. She didn't figure that they had made it past where she came down yet and now that her eyes had adjusted to the dark she was taking a bit of a good look around. Damn this was not the place for cops to be and with no back up...they were as good as dead if anyone wanted to really do them harm. Lips tightened as she kept at a quick pace and kept a good watch out, gun held down, safety clicked off, just in case and softly excusing herself as she moved through what seemed to be the homes of dozens of people.

[Edward Beck]

A trash can was slammed down, spreading cans and other various pieces of garbage littering the concrete in front of him. His feet skidded in the darkness and his shoulder slammed into the wall. Eddie’s mouth opened with a groan and he shoved his gun toting hand against the wall. Shit.. that was.. sticky. No time to think about what sin resulted in that piece of subway art.

One hand leveled the weapon upwards as the tunnel narrowed and he leveled it over his other wrist. The free hand flipped on a flashlight and he slowed to a jog as he moved up towards the next place where the tunnel opened suddenly. As much as he hated giving away his position with light, it was pitch fucking black in this place. About two blocks further and the electricity would kick in.

Fingers tightened on the handle of the gun just in time to see the two-by-four swing downwards from the hard line of the opening and to the top of his gun. It clattered away into the floor with the flashlight that angled to illuminate the dealer as his dreadlocks twisted about his head as a fist swung in.

Detective Beck ducked smoothly under the arm which crashed into the wall. Eddie slammed a fist into the man’s stomach and followed that with a shoulder to force the criminal backwards. It was cramped, but there was just enough space to clear the chin with the swing of an elbow, “Hey there rasta… “ A knee swung up hard into the nose with a wet thunk, “What kind of dirty white-man wears dreadlocks anyway? Isn’t that some kind of sin to the gods of Reggae?”

The dealer’s body arched backwards and he fell backwards with a cry. Eddie leaned down and swiped up the gun with the sound of metal on rock. The weight hit his back and threw him face first into the wall, “Fuck!”

Feet sounded on the ground on the way up the tunnel to the north. He wiped the smear of blood on his cheek and pushed himself to his feet. The flashlight moved up and he picked up his run after the faded text on the wall flashed by. The wrist came to his mouth as he ran after the sounds in front of him, “This is Frank-7, with suspect heading north under second ave. Expect Willard station in less than five. If there’s an angel up there get your ass kicking pants on!”

[Natalie Roca]

Natalie's lips cocked into a small smirk as she heard the words blink over the ear piece. Murmuring to herself she muttered " Angels don't wear pants" Though no one heard her and if someone did they just didn't think anything of it. Nat recognized the name, it was Beck chasing the guy down the tunnel. She had run into him a few times at the station. Narcotics detective and the guy was a hug flirt and smart ass to boot. She didn't really know to much about him and the few times she had ran into him he had something slightly funny to say. Brown eyes narrowed as she got closer to the end of the tunnel that the guy being chased should be coming to real quick. It was also the spot where the electricity seemed to just blink off all by itself. It was dark and it could be a lot worse then the lit areas.

Dropping down to the platform she paused in her steps and listened, barely she could make out the faint sounds of someone running."Gotcha." she whispered to herself as she brought up the gun and leveled it down the tunnel, moving forward slowly and staying right next to one of those huge square pilings that held up the ceiling. She didn't know if the man was armed or not, assuming that he was she didn't want to be in the light where he could see her and she not see him.

She peered into the darkness and watched as the suspect came into view. Dredlocks, back pack and running scared. She let him take a few more steps into the light and then spoke out, arms resting against the post she was behind, " POLICE!......FREEZE!" She watched as the mans eyes widly looked around to locate her and as soon as he saw her he froze for a mere second or two, a glance thrown back toward where Beck should be coming up behind him. You could see the thoughts going in his head. Not seeing a weapon in his hands Natalie stepped out from behind the protection and started walking slowly toward the guy. " Don't move. Put the bag down and get on your knees, hands behind your head, lock...." Thats as far as she got when he wheeled and dashed for the tracks in the tunnel. Being parallel to them she turned and ran for them too. If she could cut him off they had a chance, if she couldn't they both might be following this guy for a while.

Tucking the gun in its holster as she moved she swerved around a bench and paused only once when she reaced the edge, the guy was only about three steps behind her and it was come down in front of him or try leaping on him. She didn't have much time to think about it and she dropped into the tracks in front of the guy. He plowed into her and she felt her body jar hard from the impact he made. Of course it took them both down to the ground. Her head slammed into wood and rocks but she wasn't about to let him get away and her fingers grabbed ahold of his clothing. Her breath was coming hard as it had nearly knocked the wind right out of her. This guy was a fighter though and she saw the fist raised and pulled back and her only thought was " How do I explain that one." as the fist was coming down. She barely moved her face and the fist actually caught her along the side of the head instead of directly in the face. "Bastard" she growled out as she hooked a leg around his and shoved with all her strength and rolled them over.

They were tussling back and forth, each of them trying to get the upper hand and he was taking swings at her. A fist landed in her ribs and she almost lost her grip on him then. He had managed to get up to his knees and moving away from her when she turned and took a leap at his feet, grabbing them and giving a jerk, bringing him back down to his face. " I don't think so asshole." she mumbled low. She really was hoping that Beck would hurry up and get his ass here to give her a hand, she didn't know how much longer she was going to be able to keep this guy around.

[Edward Beck]

Eddie shoved the weapon along his ribs into the holster as he broke into the flickering light just in time to see the two of them go down in a tangle of limbs. Fingers ripped the jacket back from the shoulders and left it on the platform as he jumped off the platform to the satisfying crunch of gravel. Booted feet carried him over to where Natalie had the dreadlock sporting drug dealer on the ropes… or at least in the “I just tackled your ass” position.

Natalie Roca, sex crimes division. Hot yes.. but with a little bit of the stick up the butt syndrome. That didn’t mean that he wasn’t going to be buying her a drink after this; that was for damn sure. He’d tried to flirt with her around the station of course, but his reputation had quickly put a damper on that whole situation. It was like he had actually dated anybody at work… dating wasn’t the right word, but she wasn’t like that.. she was a completely different class of girl.

“Bad Boys Bad Boys.. “ A steel toed foot swung up into the man’s chin as Eddie sang loudly and just a bit off key. The man crumpled into the ground and rolled over with a groan, still trying to drag himself away from the two of them, “What yah gunna do?” Detective Beck came to a knee next to the other man and curled a first hard which was brought down mercilessly against the side of the face, “When they come for you. “

His body moved smoothly as he reached behind his back, pulling free a pair of cuffs. Eddie twisted one arm and slapped it over a wrist.. then the other.. With that done he takes a breath and turns, sitting on the man’s back for a moment and then standing slowly.

Eddie takes a breath and holds out a hand to Natalie with a smile, “I take it you’re the angel I was asking for?” There was a smile on his bearded face. He just couldn’t help his god damned self.

[Natalie Roca]

The crunch of footsteps that came closer and the colorful off tone of singing and Nat knew it was Beck. "About damn time." she muttered under her breath when the foot landed a kick to the guys face and she let go of his legs and feet. Taking in a long breath she pushed upright with her hands, settling back to her legs tucked under here and breathing in long slow breaths. She continued to watch as Eddie slamed a fist into the guys face and then cuffed him. Her fingers were brought up and she softly touched the area of her head the idiot had slammed his fist into. Wincing a little she bet it was going to look a sight by tomorrow. Letting out a long held breath she continued to watch the other officer as he stood up.

Looking upward she lifted her hand and grabbed hold of his, just letting that very brief touch and help, only for a moment, for as soon as she was on her feet she let go and stepped back a few paces. " Well I don't know about being an angel Beck. I just can't believe they set this up with no back up, the jackasses. Luckily I was in the area when the call came over the radio. Who is the guy anyway?" Her eyes drifted over the cuffed guy on the ground in front of them as he writhed in pain from the kick and punch that Beck delivered to him.

One hand rested on her hip, the other checked her weapon, making sure it was still in place after the tussle on the ground with the guy. Flicking the safety back on it she then zipped her jacket back up. " Call it in Beck, you got your bad guy." she wasn't worried about taking any claim on this one. She was going to get into enough trouble she figured, she had her own cases to be working on and not a one of them included helping narcotics out. Turning she placed palms onto the platform and lifted herself upward, a small groan slipping out as her ribs protested the action. Her knee caught on the edge and she shoved upwards to stand. " Damn" she muttered as she let her fingers drift over the side of her ribs that hurt. Probably bruised from the fist to them earlier. Well at least on one would see that one. Looking around Natalie wanted to make sure that no one was going to try anything now that they had caught the bad guy. Some stood and stared at them but no one moved in their direction. That was good.

[Edward Beck]

" Well I don't know about being an angel Beck. I just can't believe they set this up with no back up, the jackasses. Luckily I was in the area when the call came over the radio. Who is the guy anyway?"

Eddie noticed that she took that touch away exactly at the point where it was no longer needed. So precise, that was her…. Or the little bit that he knew about her that was honestly cobbled together from the few Detective Roca sightings he’d had.

”This asshat’s name is Seamus McDaniels… otherwise known as ‘Streets’ or ‘Bones.’ Local dealer.” Another kick to the ribs before he leaned down and pulled the man roughly to his feet by the scruff of his neck, ”Oh, sorry about Seamus, foot slipped there. You know, I have these twitches, I’ve been taking my meds, but all the stress.”

Eddie pauses, SHIT…. The backpack was gone. El Capitan in charge of the narcotics division was going to give him hell if they didn’t recover the money. Bones must have stashed it somewhere along the route. He wasn’t going to say anything about it of course. That would just cause a low level riot down here with transients pouring over each other and clawing to find a big sack of cash. The practical outcome of this was that once they got this asshole up and secured that Eddie would be coming back down. No drinks after work tonight.

His eyes moved back to Natalie, ”He’s small time, but he’s going to be a good boy and lead us to his supplier. Isn’t that right...” Fingers push the perp forward and towards the stairs, Eddie really didn’t like the looks of the crowd forming. Any of these guys could be addicts that weren’t too pleased that their dealer was being taken down. That meant desperation and they really didn’t need any more fighting tonight.

" Call it in Beck, you got your bad guy."

Eddie simply nodded, he already understood that she didn’t need her role on the highlight reel. The man in charge of her division wasn’t known for being willing to share with the other kids. He brought his wrist to his mouth, ”This is Frank-7, target in custody. I’m coming topside, angel in tow. Have a black and white meet us at the Willard station entrance for transport.”

There was a crackle and a hiss before a broken voice, “Dispatch… 7.. roger.. 2nd and Willard.. meet.. transport authorized.”

Eddie placed a palm at the man’s back between his shoulderblades and shoved him forward, breaking the crowd cleanly, ”Nice take down, Detective, but I would keep that weapon handy until we see the surface.” He ignored the leather jacket he’d left on the platform. His eyes were spending their time scanning the parting crowd around them for signs of danger.

[Natalie Roca]

The nod was given only once at Beck's words about her weapon and she took another look around, yeah there did seem to be a couple in the crowd way to interested in what they were doing and she slowly unzipped her jacket once more. fingers rubbing at ribs and then slipping up to unclip the weapon in the holster. Keeping her hand close she pretended to be holding ribs or rubbing them. Her glance made its way to the man that Beck was pushing along and then she noticed something, her lips quirked to a frown. The bag was gone. Seamus had had it in his hand when he came out of the tunnel. Her thoughts jumping to replay as she had watched him. It wasn't in his hand when he slammed into her on the tracks. So where had it gone. She didn't happen to notice him let go of it. He had to have tossed it somewhere and it couldn't be far from where he went down to the tracks.

The other thing she happened to notice was that Beck no longer had his coat. Her look back over her shoulder told her it was laying on the platform and that there was now a man shuffling toward it. Her voice was low as she spoke to Beck, " Your coat is going to belong to an old guy here in about 5 mintues and you will never see it again. Hold up a moment." She knew they needed to get out of there soon but she could use the coat as an excuse to glance around for the bag too. Twisitng before Beck could say anything she shifted into a jog and made her way back through the people, whom parted quickly for her.

It took only a few seconds to reach the coat and she threw a smile at the man that had almost reached it. She could see the let down on his face as her fingers picked it up. Twisting she let her gaze move quickly over the area in which Seamus had lept down and...nothing. No bag anywhere, she let her feet move forward a little bit and as she turned took a glance down to where they had been struggling and still, nothing. That mean that someone had to have picked it up. Turning all the way back she jogged back to where Beck and the bad guy were and nodded, " Ok jacket safe." Still keeping her gaze on the people around them she moved with Beck and Seamus toward the top.

[Edward Beck]

Eddie kept his eyes forward, scanning the eyes and movements of the parting crowd. He paused for a moment as she moved to retrieve his jacket. The one ace in the hole that they had with the cash was that there was a couple of dye packs buried inside. It could explode either remotely, or if somebody really started to dig through the pack. They wouldn’t be too happy when the green turned purple, along with any exposed skin. Oh the toys they had in this line of work. Right up there with the Whoopee cushion and the automatic, remote farting machine.

”Thanks.” He was talking about her retrieving his jacket as much as he was talking about her coming to his aid. Clearly metro division had no plans of lending a hand. Eddie supposed that he really was on their turf, but narcotics worked with all the groups and he never had as much trouble with any other precinct.

The stairs were on them sooner than he expected and he could see the almost neon blue and red that alternated over the walls that lead upwards into the .. ‘clean’ air again. The subways had a tendency to smell a bit like an old folks’ home that ran out of Depends about a week earlier.

His bodies grip at the cuffs and the nape of her neck, lifting and walking Bones forcefully up the steps, ”I owe you a drink, angel. I didn’t know sex crimes would be watching my lilly white ass.” He’d tried this game before of course, but this was completely different.

[Natalie Roca]

The only reply to the thanks was a nod as she kept her eyes open, moving and searching for any quick movements. Thank god that they were all good and didn't attack either of the officers, it would have been a really bad postion to be in if it had happened. There were just the two of them coming up out of the tunnel. Spotting the lights of the patrol car she felt a little safer and took one more glance back down, but it was like the people just melted away as she couldn't see any of them now. Hands slipped into pockets of her jacket and she stopped at the top of the stairs. Beck's words coming to her and she gave a shrug, " Just doing my job Beck, someone had to give you a hand since beat didn't seem to want to. " She really didn't care about getting a drink with him and honestly she figured he probably really didn't mean it to much. He had asked her a time or two, but she had always told him she was busy. Not that it was a lie, she was always busy. But he had heard about his rep and she really wasn't sure she wanted to be just another one of his conquests, or notches on his bed post, or whatever they called it now days.

Reaching inside the jacket she locked her gun to safety again and took at look where Seamus was being taken to the car, she just stood there and watched it for a long moment. Then turning and giving one more quick look at Beck before she started to head for where she had parked her car. Her cell decided to give a beep just then and she pulled it out to flip it open and answer it, giving a mental groan as it was her captain and he was giving her an earful about an interview she was suppose to be conducting and he hadn't heard anything from her for a while, etc, etc, etc. She answered in all the right spots and said the right things because he didn't keep her on the phone for very long and she flipped it shut just about the time she reached her car. Tapping it against her palm she was sure he knew where she was at, he had a knack of knowing things without her saying a word. Checking up on her, that is what he was doing and she frowned. She hated that he did it, but since her partner was gone on sick leave she had been working a few things by herself and her seemed to think she wasn't capable to handle it. That of course made her frown even more.

Leaning against her car she slowly slipped the cell back into her pocket and stood chewing on the inside of her lip. She was waiting to see if they needed her for anything else before she jumped in her car and took off. Reaching up she rubbed at her eyes and gave a tired sigh. It wasn't that late in the day and already she was tired. Thats what she got for staying up to damn late working on the case she had in front of her right now.

[Edward Beck]

Eddie wasn’t able to answer her as the patrol officers immediately approached and took Seamus from him. They were clearly annoyed, not that Eddie gave a flying fuck. Not like they had much more to do besides sit on their ass and watch the crowds on the sidewalk. Had somebody gotten off their ass and provided proper backup, like protocol called for they wouldn’t be 15 blocks away from their favorite fucking donut shop pulling jail transport duty. One of them grudgingly handed him a clipboard and Eddie gave an inward groan. Fucking paperwork was just the best wasn’t it.

Just to be an ass he turned and leaned back against the hood of the car and filled out each line to describe what had happened, what he’d seen, and what he’d done. Didn’t these asshats carry a laptop with them? Who filled these things out longhand anymore… list of injuries.. hell.. he didn’t know.. so he just wrote “Oh god it hurts.. to the hospital, Jeeves!” The next section was for witnesses and other officers.

Eddie’s eyes came up and darted about, looking for Detective Roca. He bounced from the hood and walked over slowly, holding out the pad to her, ”Hey Natalie, I need your John Hancock here…Metro won’t transport without a proper report.” Essentially she had to sign the damn thing after reading it.

He turned to the side and leaned down to look in the rear view mirror. There was a smear of blood coming out from his hairline above his left eye and down along his temple to disappear into his beard. Undoubtedly, there were a few more bruises forming in various other places. Blue eyes glanced up towards Natalie and he offered a smile, ”Don’t suppose you could give me a ride to the hospital? I left my tricycle back at the van.”

[Natalie Roca]

Beck's voice broke through her thoughts and she glanced up toward him as he moved in her direction. Clip board held out to her and she slightly made a noise of annoyance as she took it from him. Reading over it quickly she muttered, " Don't they do this stuff on anything but paper?" Even she disliked having to write stuff out and as her eyes scanned the paper she kind of nodded to herself as it seemed all right on track. Lifting the pen she gripped in in her hand and scrawled out her name, though by looking at it, you almost could not tell what it said. She hated signing her name to things and so unless it was super important, you barely got the scribble she called a signature.

The clip board was handed back and she glanced at him. He looked like he needed a lift alright. With a nod and a couple words she replied " Yeah I can do that. " She stayed right where she was as he would have taken the board back and she stayed even longer when he moved to return it. Her eyes watched him. It wasn't like he was not good looking. Oddly she thought he was even more so when he was a bit dirty from a take down. But she liked her men, a little rough around the edges. Maybe that was why they never stuck around. None of them could handle she was a cop and so dedicated to her job. They tried to boss her, one even tried to control her physically. They all learned she wasn't about that. She was way to independent for that kind of thing and they left. Each one of them. Shaking off the thoughts she moved then, around the other side of the car, opening the door and sliding behind the wheel. A button hit to unlock the passenger side and she waited for Beck.

[Edward Beck]

Eddie snagged the clipboard from Natalie and gave smile in thanks before walking over towards the metro patrol officer who took it from his hands grudgingly. There were a few more papers to sigh that Eddie honestly ran through. He could feel the phone ringing at his hip, but ignored it for a moment. If something else had happened to Anders they would have heard it broadcast over the radio. That’s all he really needed to know for now. He did notice, however, that the officers had recovered a picture of the undercover officer from Seamus during the search. That gave Eddie momentary pause and a silent curse. That clearly meant that somebody tipped him off which usually meant one of his confidential informants, or worse, a dirty cop. It looked like the rest of the week would be spent figuring out exactly how this clusterfuck had gotten down. That was after he received the usually “you’re a loose cannon” talk from his captain. Eddie really was tired of the man making toothless threats to pull his badge. Detective Beck was a lot of things, but ineffective was not one of them.

As he turned and returned to the car he keyed his mic again, ”Frank-7 dispatch. Enroute to hospital. Will advise and return to station for debrief.” That would give his team something to work with and they would most likely be waiting for him in the shitstorm or conference room back at division. Boy, wouldn’t that be all shit and giggles?

Eddie opened the door and took a breath as he ducked down and took the passenger seat in Natalie’s car. He took a breach and reached up, rubbing a hand over the blood that was starting to tighten and dry against the side of his head. He offered her his best charming smile, ”Ok, so here’s the deal. I owe you a stiff one, and I’m not taking no for an answer. Even if that means buying you a cup of coffee and catching you at your desk.” What else was he going to say? He was a smart guy and he could catch a clue. She wasn’t interesting in dating him, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t at least be on talking or flirting terms right?

[Natalie Roca]

Reaching over she flipped the button on the little box situated under the dash and it fell open. Pushing things around in it she came out with a couple of those little moisturized wipes and grabbed around 4 of the packets. Shoving it shut again she dropped them on the dash and then choose one for herself, tearing it open she wiped at her hands and then her face with it. She didn't mind a little dirt honestly but she was more then a little dirty from rolling around on the ground with the guy. Taking a second one she did the same thing and then dropped them onto the floor in the back. It only took a few more moments and Beck was back to her car, pulling the door open and dropping himself into the seat next to her. Glancing over she could see he was even dirtier and had a nice line of blood seeping down his face from his head. Taking the other two packets she handed them out toward him. " Yeah I know they are cheesy, but they help clean up a little."

She got the words out before he started speaking and she watched him when he shifted and turned toward her, grinning. Here it comes she thought and waited for what he had to say, not interrupting him while he spoke and then it took her a while to answer him as she placed her fingers on the ignition and started the car. Taking the time to fasten her belt even before she looked at him and said, Your just not going to stop bugging me obviously. So how about...a beer, tomorrow night down at that little sports bar everyone likes to go to. Say, around 7 or 8?" That was the best she was going to give him. One drink.

" But you don't owe me Beck, so one drink will be fine. I was in the neighborhood, heard the call go out and did what most other cops would have done. she shrugged and then flipped on the blinker of the car, checked over her shoulder and pulled out into the lane of cars that was driving by slowly.

[Edward Beck]

“Your just not going to stop bugging me obviously. So how about...a beer, tomorrow night down at that little sports bar everyone likes to go to. Say, around 7 or 8?"

Eddie couldn’t believe it. I mean, he really even hadn’t been that persistent. Girls like her looked at him like he just moved from girl to girl…. Whether or not that was true, he really didn’t have plans to get Natalie between the sheets. He wouldn’t mind or complain, but he knew damn well that she wasn’t looking for something fleeting and Eddie didn’t know if he even had something more permanent in him. There wasn’t even a highschool sweetheart in his background, unless you counted Ms. Sterns, but that had been officially under the table..or the desk.. or whatever you want to call it.

The detective snapped from that little revelry and torn open one of the packets she’d passed over. His nose wrinkled slightly at the antiseptic smell coming from the clean wipes, ”If most cops would have done the same then I would have had much more than one angel. Sometimes it feels like I have a target on my back.” The words were serious, but his demeanor didn’t betray how true that felt sometimes, ”And be careful Detective, people will think that you're finally ready to have some fun if you hang around with me.”

The bearded face looked straight out the window in front of him and he reached to his gun, pulling it free from the holster. He smoothly and efficiently pulled back the slot, taking the bullet from the barrel. The clip dropped from the gun, he pushed the bullet on top of the clip and then slammed it home before setting the safety and putting the weapon away. When his blue eyes finally came up they were pulling into the parking lot of the hospital.

((Move to Hospital))