3 wise monkeys.... ( Locked for Heartofcourage )

[CoSurvivor]

"Well, then let's just give the voices a big middle finger and get to it hm?"

Walking with Joan out of her small apartment he was careful to give her the same sort of 'distance' that he'd give a friend. He was careful of how the public might perceive his relationship with Joan, and while maybe some day after this case was over, it might be more acceptable for her to be with him openly, It would be very dangerous for them to be together and get caught. Part of him could only imagine what damage Joan's sister would do to him as far as his job. Hell if anyone caught wind of it, he'd be in deep shit.

But wasn't that the thing? Did he really give a damn? Yes...and No. He loved being a cop, he enjoyed helping people, it was really the only thing since his family died that kept him going. And now he was putting it at risk. Yes, they'd only slept together once, no.. twice two wonderful experiences and that had 'felt' sooo good to be with someone, someone who wanted him. Joan was a fellow broken soul who'd lost so much, had so much taken from her, just as he had, he'd lost everything, and now was a shade of his former self. Ask anyone he knew, ask old friends, he'd fallen into himself... And now this case, and Joan had slowly brought him out of his shell, at least a little.

Watching the sway of her hips as he let her walk in front of him, Elli, thought of less than honorable things at that moment, then spied the boots she was wearing. He was glad she was wearing them, glad she'd allowed him to help her in such a small way. Each footprint made a distinct impression in the snow, and in forensics they'd been taking shoe impressions for years...

Which made him think back to the last scene.. how the fuck did the killer sneak up on the latest victim? There'd be foot prints everywhere... at least... you'd think so.. unless.

"Holy fuck..."

Elli had to get back to the crime scene.. and fast....

As soon as they'd reached the side of the truck he rushed to the driver's side, gave Joan but just a moment to get buckled in before he through the beast in reverse and backed out of his spot, then pulled away and started speeding across town. Fuck if it didn't make sense now... maybe.. it was thin very thin... VERY thin..

"I think I figured out how the killer left no tracks at the last crime scene... "

 

[heartofcourage]

Joan gripped the arm rest of the truck tightly as Wake peeled out of her parking lot, the truck fishtailing slightly on the icy roads. She looked over at him as if he had lost his mind, wondering what he was talking about when he explained that he thought that he had an answer for what was happening at the last crime scene.

"What are you talking about? You're going to get us killed." She said, her eyes wide and slightly frightened as he sped his way towards the crime scene. "Wake, slow down. It'll still be there when we get there...safely and in one piece."

 

[CoSurvivor]

Elli wasn't sure how to interpret her comment, was she again commenting on something the voice had been telling her? Or was it just an expression to try and get him to slow down. He did slow down, the massive truck had gotten loose on the last turn, which he hadn't intended. Bringing the massive vehicle down to a more realistic speed.

Elli grit his teeth a little and apologized. "Sorry, Joan..." Elli made the final turn, the last crime scene was actually a lot closer than he'd originally thought, remembering back he hadn't seen her on a bike or anything else. She'd walked to it. He kept thinking of how the bodies were situated, where each one was, sitting which direction they were facing and what was in each of their line of sight.

Elli pulled into the parking lot they'd been in the night before, and while the park didn't look any different, still the stigma of a murder taking place here had pretty much caused the place to be deserted. Putting the truck in park, Elli looked out across the park at the bench, then at the rest of the grass.

"We checked the walkways for footprints, but we never thought to look in the grass. Sure no indentations would be left, long term. I think the killer, walked through the grass and surprised our victim, shoved an icepick his ears and then left. I don' t think they went out the way they came in. But where would the next clue be, someplace the victim could see it..."

Elli was talking out loud, that's how he processed things. He was on to something.. but he wasn't quite there yet...

 

[heartofcourage]

Joan looked over that park as Wake parked the truck, the dark shadows from the early evening and the florescent lighting giving everything an eerie feel. If she was able to feel anything, she might have felt fear. Instead, she simply stared at the scene as Wake talked himself through the theory that he was currently chasing.

"I think the only way to find out is to put yourself in the other person's shoes." Joan said as she opened her door and stepped out of the truck.

The snow had stopped for the moment, the air bitterly cold as she started to walk towards the bench that was a short distance away. She wondered why that person had come here, why they were sitting out there in the bitter cold, and what they were waiting for. The voices in her head were suspiciously quiet for the moment as she paused just behind the bench and looked around the park.

There wasn't much around the area. Just the light he had been sitting under, the bench itself, and a small kid's park just across the way.

 

[CoSurvivor]

Looking across the park at the small kids' park, Elli could see a couple of slides, a medium sized plastic and metal adventure course with monkey bars, a few swings and numerous ladders attached to the thing. There was also a merry-go-round, which was closer to their side of the park than any of the other things that kids would climb on.

"Would our killer go that far? Involve kids? None of the victims had kids, no kids were involved with finding the bodies either..it's in direct line of sight of where what the body was looking at, but really?"

Elli was more talking out loud to voice his thoughts, it wouldn't be under the park bench, would it?

"I'll search the bench, take a look around the kids' park, wave at me if you see anything."

 

[heartofcourage]

Joan gave a nod and turned her collar up against the wind as she left Wake's side and made her way towards the playground. It was getting bitterly cold again, but Joan was focused on the task at hand. If Wake needed her to help him figure this mystery out, she would oblige.

She carefully walked around the equipment, looking around at the various nooks and crannies that was there. It was the dark stain on the bright yellow slide that caught her attention first. It was a small stream of near black that had dripped from the top and slipped down the plastic.

"Wake?" She called out over the wind. "I think there's something here."

 

[CoSurvivor]

Eli was kneeling under the bench, he'd slipped the small flashlight out of his interior pocket and started looking around for anything that had been damaged, or anything that had been cut from the park bench.

Nothing... nothing looked new or scraped off, this was a dead end.

"Damn it..."

He righted himself and sat up, looking up at the tree which was maybe 10 feet away from where the bench was, he thought maybe the killer was fucking with them again, dropping the clue behind instead of in the victim's line of sight.

He was brought out of his internal thoughts when he heard Joan call his name and turning his head he looked over at her while she was paying attention to the large kids slide at the playground.

Getting up he nearly slipped on the cold sidewalk, regaining his footing he ran across the open grass and reached the playground where Joan was standing.

a black viscus material had dried there in the cold. Could the killer be getting lazy? had they been injured when they'd killed the last victim?? What was it? Eli thought for a moment, looking around at the loose gravel. No footprints or lines, nothing here, no evidence that someone had walked through here. and even if so, there'd be no trace.

They had to get a look at what was at the top of the slide without putting prints on it. Looking at Joan he smiled and took her hand.

"I'm gonna put you on my shoulders.. I need you to take a look up there without touching anything.. and I don't have a ladder. Trust me... I won't drop you.."

Without much about it Wake hoisted Joan up on his shoulders and commented.

"See anything up there?"

 

[heartofcourage]

Joan grabbed at Wake's head as he hoisted her on his shoulders, telling her that she shouldn't touch anything. It wasn't that she feared her might drop her, it was just a strange sight if anyone were to happen upon them. A grown man lifting a grown woman to look at the top of a playground.

When she was settled on his shoulders, she glanced towards the playground equipment again, pausing when she located the source of the dark liquid that had dripped onto the slide. Pulling out her phone, she shined the light that direction and froze.

"Yeah, I see something." She said in a soft whisper. "Something...big."

In front of her was a severed tongue dripping blood onto the slide beneath it. It was wrapped in a piece of paper, perhaps another note from the person that had left it there for them to find.

 

[CoSurvivor]

"Something big?"

Elli wasn't sure what to make of her comment, then thought for a second, reaching into his jacket pocket, while he had her on his shoulders, he swiped open his cell phone and handed it up to her,

"Take a video, take pictures from every angle you can think of, I don't care how many."

When she was done, he took his phone back from her and helped her down off his shoulders, kneeling down and letting her off he couldn't help but be appreciative of her figure, how attractive she was, and the memory of what they'd done back at his place came flooding back to him the sweet smell of her breath on his, the sound of her voice as they had sex... all of it. Why he would think about something like that at a time when they'd just discovered another clue like this was beyond him. Maybe it was a coping mechanism, trying to distract his mind from how awful the scene was, and how truly vile the murders were.

Sweeping across the photos, Elli could feel a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. he looked back at the ladder of the slide and took pictures of every one of them, then decided he'd have to call this in... he had to, there was no way he was going to violate the chain of evidence and give this piece of shit the opportunity to get out of a crime. His mind whirled... quickly trying to think of what to do next, but he couldn't.. He had to know what that paper said. Could there be another victim? Could their life depend on how quickly they figured out the clues? or were they just being fucked with?

Quickly going back to his truck, he yanked his duty bag out from behind his seat and carried it over to the play area. Setting it down, Eli opened it up, pushed through a few things and found the box of latex gloves he was looking for. With practiced ease, he slipped them on and handed a pair to Joan. Knowing they were too big for her, he commented to her as he did so.

"Put those on, we don't need either of our prints on the slide any more than they already might be."

Reaching in again he grasped a small zipped pouch which clanked a little as he slipped it sideways into his jacket pocket. Carefully Eli scaled the ladder to the top of the slide, he wasn't sure if it was due to the cold or the fact that he was about to read something straight from the killer but he could feel his heart pounding in his head. When Eli reached the top he widened his stance with his boots wedge on both sides of one of the topmost rungs. Slowly Eli took a few more photos and then set his phone in an open shirt pocket to record everything he was doing, announcing his name, badge number, and going through the process of what he was using, if not just for the video but also to give Joan an idea of what he was doing. The paper was tucked in under the tongue, and while the tongue looked to be human, Eli couldn't be sure and didn't want to wrongly assume. Looking at the paper he could see the captured impressions of a typewriter stamped into the paper as the ink from the typewriter ribbon was starting to disappear. He had to move quickly now, or the cold, and the snow would wipe out the message.

Setting down the zipped bag on the top of the side far away from the evidence, Eli unzipped it and pulled out a ziploc bag with a number of surgical tools within. Taking two pairs of tweezers, he carefully pulled one edge out from under the tongue and could make out most of one of the words. The rest had been lost to the weather.

"Vengeance .. .. ......rt"

Eli took a deep breath, he was now sure this wasn't random, no... these killings were personal.. The killer knew all the victims.

Eli looked down to where Joan was, put his tools away zipped up the pouch and returned it to his pocket. Turning Eli jumped off the slide, so as not to disturb any more of the scene than he already had. Pulling his phone from his pocket he walked over near Joan and spoke up.

"I'm calling in a favor..."

With shaky hands, Eli dialed the number he needed stored on speed dial. The person he was calling answered on the first ring.

"Yea.. hey Frankie it's me... I need you out here back to the crime scene. Yea the one from yesterday. we've got evidence that wasn't collected. I need you and Stenz down here as soon as you can."

From the other side of the phone, Frankie's light voice piped up "What have you got? something we missed at the body?"

"No, at the kids play area, the big slide at the south of it, looks like the killer left us a present, sick fucker."

"Hang in there, it'll take me 30 to get the van, and Stenz, should I call Lewis?"

"No. Fuck him, wouldn't want to drag him out in the cold again for a case he's gonna fuck up. I have a corroborating witness, who knows I didn't plant it but hey, not like the jerk won't try to fuck me over anyway. Either I break this one Frankie, or Lewis is going to try and break me."

"OK, I'll be there in 30."

When Frankie quickly hung up, Eli looking around the slide to see if he could find any evidence that the killer had climbed it and left it there, or if they'd simply tossed it there on the way out, the way the note, rested underneath told him at the least the killer placed it there, So.... did the killer return? were there any video cameras of this side of the park??

Eli, walked to Joan, in any other time he'd sweep in and kiss her, right now he didn't know why that thought was close to the top of his mind but as he'd thought earlier, maybe it was a coping mechanism, trying to bury the brutality of what they'd just seen. But he didn't want to press...

Eli reached for her hand, and said, "Sorry about all that, I've got CSI coming to collect the evidence... we should stay here till they arrive, Frankie will take the evidence to the lab, then we can get going. Are you ok?"

He wanted to wrap his arms around her, feel whole again, like he'd felt after they'd had sex....Feel the warmth of her body against his, the smell of her sweat and sex on him, hear her voice call his name.. but it was too much to ask, his lonely mind was reaching, grasping for anything that could steady him. But Joan couldn't offer that to him. that wasn't fair to her. For someone like him to press that dependency on someone who's problems were as massive as hers... was unfair. All he wanted to do was hold her, he could give a damn about who was watching, who'd see, having that feeling again of being needed, wanted, was a selfish desire... it was unobtainable with Joan, but he'd take whatever she could give. He knew that much.

"Do you want to get back in the truck while we wait for CSI, or stay out here... with me?"

 

[heartofcourage]

"I'm fine, Wake." Joan said as he immediately took charge of the entire situation leaving her to hunker down in her coat against the brutal wind. "I'll stay here with you. I mean, we're in this together, right?"

She was starting to wonder if he were doubting her. If he were thinking about ditching her like so many others had before. She shook those thoughts out of her head, pushing them away just as she normally did with the voices in her head.

"I mean, unless you want me out of the way. They might not need to see me here next to the scene of a crime. I might get hauled in." She said, trying to make a joke but also very serious at the same time. "I guess it's up to you in the end."

 

[CoSurvivor]

In the strongest most sincere voice he had, Eli turned and spoke to Joan as he faced her, taking one of her hands in his and squeezed it gently.

"You are stuck with me, we are doing this together..."

He took the opportunity to try and distract them from what might concern her, and him.. regarding appearances. What was important right now was solving this damn case. finding the killer.

"Ok, so we have two clues now right? let's look at what we've got"

Eli turned so both of them could look at his phone, he thumbed up his gallery and started sifting through the photos he'd taken, today, and of the apartment crime scene. He focused on the slip of paper that had been left by the killer.

"OK so this one says "Blood and Revenge", the new one we just got says...

"Vengeance.." I'm not one to start guessing at what the passages could mean but let's toss those words in a search engine and see what we get.

Eli opened a web browser and started typing in the phrase, "Quotes, vengeance and blood and revenge." clicking send.

Before he could finish, he heard a familiar voice.

"Wake what the fuck are you doing here?"

Eli looked up to see the man he most didn't want to see, Detective Lewis had parked his car on the north side of the kids playground. He was discheveled, looked like he'd been sleeping in his clothes, and from the smell that came off him pulled by the wind he smelled like whiskey.

"I'm investigating a crime Lewis.. what are you doing here?"

"I'm following up on a tip, got a call personally that there was something going on at yesterday's crime scene and I should check it out, didn't expect to see you and crazy girl over here."

Eli balled up his left hand, then released the tension in it and put his hand in his jacket pocket. The expression on his face was stoic. he was pissed off, Lewis was going low, and the piece of shit deserved to get a beating.. badge or no badge Eli was going to wipe the playground with his face if he made the comment again.

Lewis, wrapped his coat around himself as he made his way to the slide where they were standing, and pointed a finger at Eli.

"You're not a detective officer, I am, this is my case, and I'm kicking you out of my crime scene."

Eli tensed up his jaw and looked at him straight on.

"Instead of being an asshole, why don't you listen to what we found."

Lewis waved his arms dramatically, "What 'we' found? What you and crazy girl over there found a gum wrapper from the killer or something?"

Eli swiped the gallery of his phone to one of the pictures of the tongue and showed it to Lewis.

"No, a piece of one of our victims."

The blood drained from Lewis face, his expression nearly went totally opposite, as if someone had thrown a giant bucket of freezing water in his face. he pointed to the top of the slide and asked in actually a polite voice...

"What..up there?"

Eli nodded, "With a message..I called in CSI, they are on the way. should be here any moment."

Lewis found his voice and looked between the two of them "Why is she here?"

"Because the chief gave me permission to work with her, a public relations thing, work with her on a piece about the department and what I'm working on, and see if Joan can help us catch this fuck."

Lewis thought for a second, and with a splash of arrogance in his voice he said "She still shouldn't be here, she's a civilian."

Eli piped up, quickly and said "And you shouldn't be drinking, I can smell it on you. You take one more step and I'll pursue charges, THIS is my CASE Lewis.. you fuck with me, you impede our case and the Captain will find out that you showed up to a crime scene with liquor on your breath. I'm not fucking stupid Lewis, I know you've been drinking on the job for a while now so let me do my job and I won't report it to the Captain. What you've got maybe 2 years left till retirement, you wanna fuck up your pension? "

Lewis screwed up his face for half a moment. showed a sign of relenting by holding up his hands and stepping back. "So what's the play here?"

"We wait till CSI gets here, we let them do their job and move on. CSI will want to run DNA against the other victims and see if this matches anyone we have in the morgue, or if it's from another victim. My instincts are telling me this could be from another victim."

Lewis didn't like the fact that he was getting played with, yes he'd been drinking but he was off duty when the call came in. He'd find a way to fuck with Wake, there was no way he was going to let him take his job from him, Lewis was two years from retirement, he had to make it that long, and be damned if this younger office was going to usurp his position or take over a case that should be his. He'd play nice for now, but he'd find a way to get Wake out of his way..later.

"OK.." Lewis replied, "CSI does the work up, and gets the evidence back to the lab, swab against anyone involved with the case, our victims and missing persons. Then we look for connections on the note."

"Right, we also see if there are any cameras in the area that could have had a view of the park. even from a distance,"

Eli looked at Joan, smiled and asked his partner, in a confident tone that he hoped would his opinion that she was indeed his 'partner' an equal in this case.

"Ideas Joan? Anything outside the box?"

As Eli asked, he could see the CSI van pull up and watched the techs make their way over. He'd have to explain what was up to Frankie and Stenz..

 

[heartofcourage]

Joan watched as Wake scrolled through the notes on his phone, asking if there was anything that she recognized. She did, but she didn't have the chance to even speak as the entire scene exploded into chaos. There was too much yelling back and forth as she shrank back, looking at Wake as Lewis leveled threats and comments towards her. They were mild but still embarrassing. Still, she kept that blank look on her face that she always had when dealing with someone who didn't understand her.

The voices in her head were growing louder, making everything throb. She was cold and annoyed now, taking a step back from Wake to pull open her satchel and grabbing her pen and journal. As he continued to fight back and forth with Lewis, she simply wrote down one line.

When he looked towards her, asking if she had anything, she simply turned the journal around, showing him what she had written.

"Vengeance is in my heart, death in my hand, blood and revenge are hammering in my head."

"It's Shakespeare. Titus Andronicus. Act 2, Scene 3." She mumbled, knowing that if Lewis had an issue with her being crazy before, she had certainly renewed all of that.

 

[CoSurvivor]

Eli blinked... he read the words on the page and he was about to say something when Lewis chimed up and pointed a finger at her.

"You are fucking crazy lady... you do know the killer... what you got a library card in your back pocket, or..."

Eli stepped up right into Lewis's face, pulled up his phone and looked at what his search results were. Right there, number three in the search engine was a hyperlink to a quotes site... specifying Shakespeare. Eli turned the phone and shoved it in Lewis's face.

"She's not crazy, you fucking asshole. she's RIGHT."

Lewis looked at the phone, looked at Joan and mumbled something to himself that Eli didn't quite catch. Eli got back in his face and shouted the man down.

So what are you gonna do Lewis, continue this line, call my partner crazy again because she reads!, Maybe you ought to spend some time in a library, might learn something instead of spending your nights crawling out of a bottle."

The CSI techs finally arrived, looking at the squable between lewis and Wake, when Frankie approached, She was carrying the front end of a large 10 foot tall step ladder, The back end was being carried by Stenz, a skinny young man about 25 with a crazed hairdo that looked liike he'd used too much gell in his hair one too many times. CSI's appearance on the scene cemented that the evidence would be collected, and they'd be able to move on.

Frankie noticed Joan from earlier, saw how physically angry Wake looked and she politely nudged Wake out of his stew of anger.

"Hey... wanna give me the lay of the land here?"

Eli went into a short explanation of what he'd found, how Joan had helped and surely how goofy they must've looked with Joan on his shoulders. Frankie did look over at Joan and gave her a genuine smile, there were no bad bones in her body, she truly liked the fact that Eli had finally shown an interest in someone and while she didn't know the facts, she assumed the two were working together.

The whole process took the better part of an hour, at which time CSI took pictures of everything, bagged everything and wrote down a number of notes and then closed it all up. Stenz hadn't said a word to anyone but Frankie the whole time they were there, but as he left the scene to head back to the van, he did nod at Joan, and Eli reached out and gave him an encouraging nudge on his shoulder. The young man seemed to appreciate the subtle positive contact from Wake, and he picked up the pace as he left.

Frankie, however, had a few things to discuss.

"What have you got for me, Frankie?" Wake asked.

She didn't look happy, and she waited for Lewis to step within hearing distance.

"I don't think it's from one of our victims.. at least not the 3 we know of. No.. this is from someone else."

Lewis wanted nothing but to interrogate Frankie for more information but Wake stopped him and made one last comment. "Call me when the coroner does a DNA swab, or if you guys can get anything off it." An emphasis was made on the beginning of his request. He also gave her the evidence bag he had of the first part of the note,

"What's this?" Frankie asked. Eli quickly explained and Lewis rolled his eyes.

"You are making shit up Wake..." Lewis chastized him. But Eli knew the truth, he just needed to get the video and photos off his phone.

Eli looked at Lewis and shook his head..."Quite the theory you have Lewis, did you come up with that yourself?" Eli had just about had it with this guy, he could tell it was starting to bother Joan though, so he ended the arguement by nodding at his truck so Joan would follow. When they were weill out of ear shot, getting back in his truck, Eli started it up and made sure the heater was running before he asked anything further.

"So... did you read that in a book? Or did someone clue you to it?"

 

[heartofcourage]

"I don't know the killer..." Joan mumbled as Lewis rounded on her, shrinking back and holding her journal against her chest. "I just know where the words came from."

It was all the she had to saw as Wake jumped to her defense, ready to pummel the other cop to get him to calm down. She didn't like the shouting, but she said nothing as she stared down at the ground, her new boots covered in wet snow. She was cold, tired, and wanted to be anywhere but there. She was nothing but a sideshow freak to these cops. No one would ever understand her. Those were the thoughts that were coursing through her head as more people showed up.

Joan was incredibly quiet, almost invisible as she huddled against the wind. When Wake started to leave, she followed. She didn't really have any other place to go except with him. Once they were back in the blessed heat of Wake's truck, she looked over at him.

"I read it. They might be talking, but the knowledge was all mine." She said when he asked. "Can we go somewhere? Somewhere quiet?"

 

[CoSurvivor]

Eli started up the truck, looked over at Joan and lightly squeezed her hand then nodded.

"Sure, somewhere quiet..." Eli put the massive truck in reverse, pulled out of the parking lot and headed out. He wasn't sure for the moment where to go. He'd be happy to take her back to his place but he was afraid that she might think he's got ulterior motives. When they'd been on the road for a good 20 minutes, Eli thought of something, Smiled to her and decided he'd show her one of his private spots.

The drive would normally take, maybe 20, but on this particular day, with the snow coming down, and the air slowly getting colder, Eli was careful and took it a bit slower than he would otherwise. He found the turn in, drove up the paved road and then pulled in the scenic parking lot.

The city that they lived in did have a few rolling hills, and one such hill gave them the opportunity to look out at the vast expanse of the national forest which was off to the north east of them. The view was amazing, well at least Eli thought so, off in the distance he could see a handful of chimney smoke plumes within the treeline. They were lucky here, the forefathers of their city had made a mandate that the city sprawl could only go so far, and the foot print of the city could only go so far within the boundaries of the national forest. It was something that became part of the city, part of what made this place so special.

With the constant hum of the massive engine, Eli looked over at Joan and for a moment, he wanted to talk, say how much this place and the peace and quiet meant to him. But it would defeat the point of bringing her here. Instead, he reached across, squeezed her hand gently and smiled at her, unbuckled his seat-belt and relaxed. Looking over at Joan, she was incredibly attractive, especially to his eyes. He could spend hours looking into her eyes and never tire of it, never tire of being in her presence.. it had been a long time since he'd felt like this , and part of him wondered if it was the amazing sex, maybe it was the way she kissed him, he'd been so alone for so long a part of him which he was desperately trying to squash worried that the fact that they'd slept together had compromised him. In reality, maybe it had, but he didn't give a fuck at the moment.

His mind wanted to tell her, say something that was completely different and not talk about the case...

"It's beautiful out here don't you think, I come here when I've had a particularly difficult day and just need to do my paperwork, or just to have a moment to myself. It reminds me that there are other things much greater than me in the world. I've ever brought anyone out here before, I'm not sure why I'm telling you that, but I want you to know how important you are to me."

 

[heartofcourage]

Joan looked over at Wake as he spilled his guts to her, telling her that this spot was special to him and he had wanted to share it with her. The voices in her head ebbed and flow, some telling her that he just wanted to fuck her again, but the others told her that she could trust him. As long as the dark voice didn't come back, she had long ago decided that she wanted to trust him. He made her feel safe in a way that no one ever had before.

"You don't see me like everyone else does." She said softly as she held his hand. "You don't care that part of me is broken or weird. I can't help any of this. If I could, I would have stopped it a long time ago to try and be normal."

She looked back out the windshield as the snow fell around them, the city quiet beyond all of that. "We had sex and it was great, but I feel like this is so much more than just that. That you won't betray me when things get tough."

 

[CoSurvivor]

"I'll never betray you... " Was Elli's immediate answer.
Elli heard himself say those words and he knew the weight of every syllable that he'd just spoke, knew that Joan was going to depend on him to defend her if necessary when the deck was stacked against her. He needed to find a way to change the play and stack the deck in her favor, get people to let off the pressure on her and in his mind, the only way to do that was to have her help in resolving this case. He could spend all their time here in this quiet place, thinking about the case, about the leads they needed to follow up on but he honestly needed to concentrate on Joan, and clearing his mind. This place the peacefulness of it always had that effect on him.

Squeezing her hand one more time, he brought her hand up to his face, palm up, he could feel himself calm by her touch, and when she said that he didn't look at her as if she was this broken woman, he replied, "You don't treat me like I'm broken either Joan...Maybe it's because I haven't told you a whole lot, or you already know and it doesn't matter, but you've seen me, the real me, and how alone my world has become. "
Elli brought himself out of the spell her touch, let go of her hand and continued his thoughts by saying, "What is normal anyway? People strive so hard to 'be' what everyone else wants them to be and they forget to be who they should be. Society is so hellbent on making sure we all conform to a certain picture. In the broken mess that is my life that picture was shattered, now I didn't have a choice about it but my choices since then have been to dive headfirst into my work. And my work is not normal. Not too many people are out there dealing with society on it's worst day, That, 'that' part of me has been keeping me together for so long.. and then I see you, someone who's broken just as badly as I am. and we click, we work...I don't treat you like you are fragile, or broken, because that sells you short. I also don't think you are crazy either...from what I can see, sitting here You are..refreshing, you speak your mind, and you tell me what you think without the sugar coating of worrying if I'll be offended."

Elli let his comment float there for a moment, the silence didn't remain long, just long enough to pause the train of thought. When he started talking again he made sure to speak confidently.. and he closed a bit of the distance between them, leaning on the oversized armrest between the two seats. Elli looked into her eyes and spoke from the heart.

"The sex. back at my house, was incredible...There is something there, something between us, and I would very much like to be with you again if you'll have me."

 

[heartofcourage]

"I know what happened to your family." Joan said as she looked over at Wake as he pressed her hand against his cheek. "I remember when everything happened."

She was quiet as he started to talk about life in terms that she wasn't anymore out of her mind than the average person. She knew that he was telling her a lie to make her feel better, but it still made her smile slightly. Wake was bending over backwards to make sure that she felt comfortable with him. It was admirable, she thought to herself, glancing back over at him as his thoughts turned towards the sex that they'd had at his house earlier that day.

"I wouldn't say no." She said softly as he mentioned that he wanted to be with her again.

 

[CoSurvivor]

Her comment made his heart jump. the thought of repeating their time together again, a time more passionate, throwing clothes around the room, tossing them in a pile and not worrying about where they landed just that they got naked together as quickly as possible.
Eli swallowed hard, his throat suddenly dry, despite the cold air and the snow falling just outside. Wake wanted to ask something, choked on it for a second.
"I...I'm..Ahm..." he started..*

"I'm glad..." Eli spoke a lot softly than was probably necessary, there was just the two of them there...
He wanted to inquire, wanted to say something more, ask what she enjoyed, what she wished he'd do again.. but he couldn't..Why was he so nervous? Was it because he didn't want her to take it back, to regret that she'd been with him? Behind the badge, behind the man he tried so hard to be in public and in private he was still in pain. Time was supposed to heal wounds, but what hed found was, the memory was always there, he could shut it out, put it in a box and light it on fire but the box would come back.*
He had to put the pain aside, the memories that threatened to come back so fast. He looked at Joan and gave her a wry bit of a smile trying to bring a smile to her face.

"You were amazing Joan.. you were. and if you wouldn't say no.. what would you say?"

 

[heartofcourage]

“I’d say that you could take me anywhere you wanted.” Joan murmured, looking him straight in the eye as she said that. “I had a good time and I like you. Maybe nothing more will come from our relationship than this, but at least it gave us a few moments to forget our trouble, right?”

She attempted to give him a smile. It looked more like a grimace, but she was trying. “Besides, I think it means way more to me that you don’t think I was the killer.”

 

[CoSurvivor]

"Anywhere?"

Did Eli hear that right? anywhere he wanted to? would that mean here? in the semi illuminated cab of his truck? last time he actually had sex in a car was well, before he went in to the military, and the weather hadn't been what it is out side...

Part of his mind got lost in the fog of memory, being with her, the smells, the taste of her skin, the feel of her against him, it stirred something deep... something he'd tried so hard to bury under depression and his desire to be left alone with his pain.

But Joan finished it with a comment about suspicions about her being the killer. Eli turned to her, reached out with an upturned hand.

"It was nice, much more than that, it was passionate... You know how to kiss Joan, there are a lot of things that I can forget about within your kiss. Just know one thing, I know in my bones, I know here in my soul that you are not the killer, so... while I know you might ask that question again, just know that my answer will always be the same. I believe in you."

Eli left that strand out there, he took a deep breath and exhaled deeply... He could feel the rush in his bones the desire build in him... and before he talked himself out of it, he leaned over and kissed her quick. As if he couldn't breathe again if he didn't....

Nuzzling against her nose, he broke the kiss and asked....

"Anywhere??"

 

[heartofcourage]

Joan wasn't expecting the kiss that he gave her, but she felt her bones melt as he did. Everything faded away when Wake was near, almost as if he were the secret weapon that she needed to fight off her demons. It didn't seem that he minded that role at all.

As he pulled away, nuzzling against her nose, she opened her eyes and looked at him. "I've never been fucked in a car before. It might be fun." She said with her normally dry sense of humor, shrugging her shoulders at him as the faintest hint of a smile tilted the edges of her lips.

 

[CoSurvivor]

Smiling back at her Eli whispered "Might be? Although, the question is how can we? I suppose we'll just have to figure it out hm? "

Elli checked his back seat to see if it was clear, it wasn't, he had his duty bag back there, along with a few other things stored under the seats, the only other option was where they were sitting,

unzipping his jacket he shrugged it off and looked at Joan while tossing it over the back of the seat.

"I feel like we are a couple of school kids doing this... "

Eli leaned in kissed her again, passionate, with the trace of hope to kiss her again very soon there after. Eli reached under the massive console which sat between them, clicked two buttons which released a latch and he swung up it up and back to create a much larger, wider bench seat between them.

With a bit of a wry smile. Eli released Joan's seat belt, hearing the metal click, and the strap begin to retract, Eli leaned in again kissing her and pulled her to him...

 

[heartofcourage]

Joan watched Wake scrambled to figure out the logistics of what they were about to do. When the backseat didn't suit him, he turned towards her and made due with pulling the center console up to make enough room for the both of them. Then he had her seatbelt loose and she was scooped into his arms as he kissed her in a way that made her bones melt. She almost didn't recognize the sound that issued from her throat as she leaned into him, encouraging every single moment that they had together.

 

[CoSurvivor]

Eli pulled her to him, his mind racing as to how to make this work, his hands running across Joan's body, his hands desperately slipping into her clothes, seeking out the smooth skin of her body. As he moved, Eli pulled Joan on top of him, his right hand seeking the back of her jeans, one hand slipping into her right back pocket, firmly grasping her butt, his other hand reaching up and behind her, firmly grasping her back. In this position Joan was in his arms, but squarely on top of him, her hair cascading over him shielding them from the outside world, allowing Joan to be the only one to see the look of desire on his face.

Eli smiled to her in the shadows of the cab of his truck, He felt like they were High School kids trying to neck in his car while trying to not get caught by the police. Except he was the police, this was his truck and they didn't want to get caught.. Subconsciously this was a position of trust, he wanted her there, on top of him, so she had a bit of control over this situation, and for someone who was frequently made to feel that she was controlled by everyone else, Eli thought the position over him might help her trust him...

The forest around them could have exploded into a wildfire.. but he wouldn't have cared at that moment...