Should I tag you or just mention your name when I post my hospital Dirk fanart?

oh tag it, I would like to see... can't guarantee a response but I do like to see when people make such things it makes me quite happy....

Previous Chapter

6. The Call

The happenings of the first phone call Jay makes to Madeline in 5 years Jay Halstead, Hailey Upton, Madeline Grace Halstead (OC)

Jay caught himself feeling slightly disappointed when it went to voicemail but couldn’t help but smile as he listened to the pre recorded message.  *Hi, you’ve reached Madeline. I’m sorry I missed your call but I’ll call you back as soon as I can. Please leave a message and have a good day!*  “Hey Mads. I got your card. Maybe we can have lunch or something if you’re up for it? Lemme know when you’re free, cause uh I’ve missed you. Alright, call me.” he sighed as he ended the call and slid his phone back into his pocket. 

“So, who’s your secret admirer?” his partner’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts.  “Uh- not an admirer. She’s -” Sensing his awkwardness, she quickly supplied “The girl from yesterday?”  “Yeah, the girl from yesterday. I called but uh voicemail” he said.  “Ahh” She gave a sympathetic smile before saying “Voight wants us at the board” nodding at the door.  “Copy that” he said as he shut his locker. Hailey couldn’t help but notice that he eyed the envelope on the shelf beforehand. 

Hailey glanced at her partner as he checked his phone for probably the millionth time that day before taking a swig of his coffee and sighing.  “She’s probably busy,” she said softly.  “That’s what I keep telling myself” he muttered as he tipped his head back into the headrest.  “Jay. She’ll call” She said matter of factly, hoping that would reassure him.  Hailey decided not to touch on the subject any further but noticed how distant he was getting as the day went on. She’d seen how the excitement that flashed across his face every time his phone buzzed, quickly became replaced with something she couldn’t quite place as soon as he looked at his screen.

It was now nearing 8pm and they were at a point in their case where they couldn’t get any further until they hopefully got something from the all day surveillance they had set up tomorrow.  “Alright. Go home and rest up. I need you all back here at 8 suited up and ready to go” Voight’s order was met with sighs of relief from the team.  “Jay, you not leaving?” Antonio called out from the landing where they were all standing, ready to head downstairs.  “Uh yeah. I am.” he said as he got up, putting his phone back in his pocket. “I need to grab some stuff from my locker though so you guys head off without me”  “Alright then, see ya” Antonio replied before heading downstairs, Adam, Kevin and Kim following after saying byes.  “You sure?” Hailey asked, leaving ‘you’re okay?’ unsaid as she searched his face.  “Yeah. See you tomorrow Hails” he replied with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes before disappearing to the lockers.  

Jay trudged up the stairs of his apartment, slightly slamming the door when he entered. He peeled off his shoes and threw his keys into the bowl before heading straight to the fridge. He flung away his phone next to him on the sofa and took a swig of his beer while he searched for a distraction on the tv. He heard his phone ping but turned it on silent, frustrated when it was just a notification from Facebook. A while had passed and he was now on his second beer and starting his takeout. He caught himself reaching for his phone and stopped but the desperation got the better of him 2 minutes later. He erupted into a smile when he saw his screen.

💬Madeline [16 minutes ago] Hey. Sorry, I’ve been busy all day. I’m free now though if you want to call? :) 

He instantly unlocked his phone and pressed call, losing confidence that she would pick up when it finally connected on the last ring. 

“Sorry sorry! Couldn’t remember where I put the phone down.” “Hey Maddie” he smiled hearing her voice “So, where was it?” “In the fridge” she laughed. “I know, new one for me too, embarrassing really. Anyways, um Hi.”  “Hey. This a bad time?” He asked, noticing the shuffling and clattering in the background.  “Hm? Oh no no, great time. I’m just putting away dishes and reheating dinner at the same time”  “Ahh. Friend coming over?” Jay tried to sound nonchalant as he contemplated the possibility that the ‘friend’ could be the father of his sister’s child.  “No friend” she chuckled, “It’s for me” “Wha- Mads. You haven’t had dinner? How come?” he questioned, his big brother instincts kicking in.  “Honestly, it was just one thing after another - hectic day”  “Maddie, you should eat - what you having?” “We had spaghetti and meatballs tonight so meatballs it is. What’d you have?” “Chinese takeout. So, tell me about this hectic day”  “You sure you want to hear? It’s probably really boring compared to yours”  “I’m all ears Mads”  “Okay well, I had classes till 4:30 and was going to the library to study but then, day care called and said Nate was having a really bad day so I picked him up and I kind of needed Mrs Carter to watch him but she wasn’t in cause you know it’s not her usual day to. I didn’t end up getting much work done but you know, it’s good that I spent the day with Nate cause I don’t think I would have been able to concentrate anyways.”  Listening to her chatter, I missed this he thought.  “That’s uh - that’s really busy Mads. You okay? And classes? Where’s school?” He stumbled through the reply, trying to dig through the information that he had just learnt.  “Oh. The classes aren’t for school. It’s ballet classes. I do go to college too which I guess is school” she laughed.  “Wow Mads. College? Guess you and Will took all the smart genes huh” he joked. “That’s really great. And you’re a ballerina?” he smiled, remembering the rare time he got to go to a recital during his leave.  “Not yet. Training to be one though.” she said bashfully.  “Mads, that’s - I’m real proud” he beamed, wishing that he could tell her in person.  “Thanks.” she said before mumbling “Mmm man, that’s good” “You good there?” he said amused, an eyebrow raising.  “Yeah. I was just like SO hungry, you know. So … What about you Jay? How was yours?  “Uh yeah. It was good”  “Uh huh. Come on I told you about my day, you gotta tell me yours. Please?” he chuckled as she said the last word, seeing her signature puppy eyes in his mind.  “Well, I can’t tell you much because a lot of it’s confidential but most of the day was chasing leads”  “And that’s all you can say?” she said dramatically  “Uh … ask around, talk to people, although sometimes you have to chase them to. Look at CCTV footage, track down calls, things like that” he listed.  “And you do that on the daily??” her voice mesmerized, reminding him of the times he and Mouse would tell their more positive stories from the tours.  “Yeah. Most times when we’re solving a case. Sometimes we’ll go undercover or go do surveillance or something.”  “That’s awesome Jay. You have like the coolest job in the world” she stated in awe.  “Yeah. I guess I do.” he said as he relished in the reminder for a second before joking “Don’t let Will hear you say that though!” “Hm, yeah-” He heard her trail off with an emotion he couldn’t quite place. “What is it Mads?”  “No it’s nothing.” she said quickly.  “You sure?” he asked.  “Yeah, all good” she said a little too cheerfully. He was about to push but stopped himself, unsure of how that would sit in their present dynamic. “Your day. It uh- it sounds like a lot. You sure you’re okay?”  “Yeah it’s fine Jay. I have a routine down and-” their conversation was cut short as cries filled the other end of the line. “Sorry, hang on a sec?” He listened to his sister trying her hardest to soothe the toddler. “Sorry Jay I-” “No Mads. Don’t apologize - go. He needs you”  “Okay. I love you” she said before quickly ending the call. 

Those last three words made him taken aback, opening the door to a range of emotions. Maybe she had just said it as a customary thing, but he wanted to ask her - how? why? 

He tried to remember the last time she had said that to him. It was the week after her 14th birthday. She had made him promise that he would come see her but was calling to apologise and tell her that he couldn’t. Although that short conversation left him with more questions than answers, he felt that warmth filling the hole again. He tried to hold on to it but it lost to the usual suspect. Guilt. He sat there motionless, letting the trains of thoughts run free in its tracks and take over.

                                            💙✨🦋✨💙

Next Chapter | Finding Gracie Masterlist 

A/N - The characters belong to Dick Wolf and are from the One Chicago universe he created. Whew! This is the longest chapter I’ve written so far although it was mostly dialogue (which I want to get better at because I feel like it sounds so unnatural). I’m thinking of having upstead in the next one ... 

There isn’t enough VanOhm content so I decided to add my 2 cents to the mix. Hope you enjoy.

Just thought this was an interesting idea, and I’m planning on a couple more chapters where they will get together.

Evans POV

It was 2 am when they’d finished their recording session, the other guys having already left discord in favour of their own beds, leaving only him and Ohm left in the call. It wasn’t often that they’d have a catch up after their sessions but sometimes it was nice to just chill with his friends as he waited for himself to get sleepy.

Ohm was currently telling him about his new dog, Tiny, about how much of a menace he was, and that Ohm had already lost 2 pairs of shoes to him. Evan though was content to simply listen to Ohm, giving a small laugh or grunt hear and there so that Ohm knew he was still there. He liked listening to Ohm, his smooth voice, when not screaming down the mic or in a fit of giggles, was quick to soothe him, and late at night could help lull him to sleep. Not that he didn’t like the other noises Ohm made, his growing archive of 32 Ohm noises was proof of that, and it was even better when he was the one to get the older man into his giggly state.

“Ev, you still there?”

Evan blinked and shook his head a little when his name was called out, he really needed to sort out his schedule.

“I guess you’re asleep then” he heard Ohm huff a laugh at that “I’ll speak to you later Ev. G’night”

“Wait, Ohm I’m still here, I was just, err, grabbing a glass of water”, his voice thick with sleep. Evan put his head in his hands and groaned quietly, that was probably the worst acting he’d ever done. But, what else could he say? Please stay and talk to me longer because your voice comforts me? That was a sure-fire way to make things awkward between them.

“Ev, you okay?” The worry was evident in Ohms' voice, in truth he probably wasn’t okay, he felt stretched thin and at breaking point, but if he was good at anything it was lying to himself.

“Yeah I’m fine Ohm, why’d you ask?”

He heard a sigh on the other side of the call, he knew what that meant. “I’m worried about you Evan, I think you’re overworking yourself too much. You’re doing your music and YouTube and I can see the strain it’s having on you, I don’t have to see you to know that it’s breaking you down bit by bit. I care for you, you’re a great friend, a great content creator and your music is fucking awesome, but you need to know when to stop.”

Evan felt tears brim his eyes, he couldn’t deny the truth in Ohms words, but he also couldn’t stop his work, he had fans counting on his videos and demands to meet by his manager.

“I’m not saying you need to stop YouTube or your music, just slow it down a bit, take it easy and look after yourself.”

Evans' head was racing through Ohm’s words leaving him unable to form a proper response, instead just saying a simple ‘G’night Ohm’ before ending the call. He’s sure he can feel Ohms frown through his screen and sure enough, he hears a notification from their private chat.

Take care Evan 😊

The Canadian smiled a little at the message, he knew he’d been a bit of a dick to Ohm, he was only trying to look out for him after all, the man was too caring for his own good. With that he shut off his setup and made his way to his bedroom, trying not to trip over the bits of clothing littered on his floor. He didn’t even get changed as he fell onto his bed, sleep however restless, was quick to come.

He heard his 7 am alarm go off and groaned as he rolled over to turn it off, he rubbed his head as he felt a headache coming on and simply sat up to take 2 Ibuprofens dry. As if on autopilot he simply stripped down and went for his shower, simply standing under the water trying to ignore the growing pain behind his eyes.

He made the brief mental note to do his laundry later as he put on what was probably his last clean set of clothes. He ignored the plates piled high in the sink and the takeout boxes everywhere in favour of pulling out the last few slices of pizza from the night before.

He quickly checked his phone, seeing one of his discord chats.

Sweaties:

Ohm: Sorry guys I’m gonna bail tonight, had a family emergency come up ☹

Moo: Sorry to hear that I hope everything’s okay.

Ohm: Yeah just an old friend of mine got sick all of a sudden, it’s supposed to be quite serious so I’m gonna go check up on them tonight.

Moo: Well I hope everything goes alright and remember we’re here if you need us.

Nogla: Yeah I hope your friends alright, but don’t worry I’ll be sweaty enough for the both of us, it’ll be like you’re actually here.

Ohm: Wish I could’ve sent you my world-famous sweatpants XD

Brian: Ugh

Brian: I hope your friends alright Ohm but Nogla’s sweaty enough as is without compensating for you.

Moo: As if you’re not already the sweatiest one here Brian.

Ohm: XD

Nogla: :’D

Brian has left the chat

Evan: Hope your friends alright Ohm, take care.

With that, he shut his phone off and left to start his long walk to his meeting. He’d briefly thought about calling an Uber but decided the fresh air would do him good. He was on autopilot as he made his way to the building, even throughout the meeting, simply writing down the odd note, answering a couple questions on deadlines and having a brief discussion on his future work.

It was early afternoon when he started walking home, in the back of his mind he noted that he needed to do a grocery shop but then he thought about how much easier it was to simply order in food, and his mind was made up.

When he got home he chucked his keys onto the kitchen table and put his jacket on the nearest chair. Discarding his shoes, he made his way to the couch where he started flicking through channels until he found some thriller to watch. It wasn’t long before he started falling asleep, he briefly thought about moving to his bed but that involved moving, so instead adjusted himself slightly and waited for sleep to take him.

He woke up to knocking on his door, which is strange because he wasn’t expecting anyone, as shown by the dire state of his studio.

He looked at his phone, 6:52 pm, he panicked slightly, he hadn’t meant to sleep that long, in fact he only had a few hours before he was supposed to be recording with the guys. He was brought back to attention by another knock on his door.

He rubbed at his face and combed through his hair as he made his way to the door, trying to look somewhat presentable for the unexpected guest. When he opened the door, he was surprised to see a somewhat rugged man about the same height as him, cheeks red after being in the cold, beaming a smile at him. Evan wasn’t going to deny that he was good looking, he had soft hazel doe eyes and his trimmed beard framed his face nicely, he had what looked like soft brown hair currently sticking out in various directions he’s sure was caused by the wind. Some part of him for some reason wanted to comb his hand through the man’s hair, but before he could take that thought further he hears the man in front of him clear his throat.

Evan snaps his eyes back to the strangers when he realizes he’s pretty much been drooling over him, except the man doesn’t seem to mind, smile still on his face and mirth in his eyes.

“I’m so sorry, can I help you with something?”. The man lifted his arm a little bit and Evan saw the pizza box in his hand. “I’m sorry I didn’t order any food”. Evan was confused about what was happening, the guy didn’t look like a delivery driver, and he made no move to leave.

“Who said it was for you? I’m fucking starving, although if you ask me nicely I’ll share” There was no denying who’s voice that belonged, this time Evan couldn’t stop his jaw from dropping. “Ev, your corridor is really cold, is it alright for me to come in?”

Mouth still open Evan opened his door for the man to come through, he entered the flat, suitcase in tow, before trying to make space on the kitchen counter to put the pizza down. Seeing this made Evan flustered, the fact that he was seeing Ohm for the first time and Ohm was seeing how bad his living situation was only affirmed what the man had told him last night.

Evan quickly moved to the counter, picking up empty takeout containers and shoving them into the bin although it made little difference. “What are you doing here Ohm? How are you here? How’d you know where I live? What about your friend?” Evan couldn’t stop the onslaught of questions until Ohm raised his hand.

“I asked a couple of the guys where you lived, took a bit of persuading and some sort of lifetime deal to Craig but here I am. I was worried about you, so I decided I’d come to see you myself, make sure you were doing alright. Although your flat Eva….”

“I know I live like shit at the moment and I really would’ve preferred you’d call first; do you know how embarrassing it is for you to see me living like this” Evan didn’t mean to snap like that, he knew the American was just trying to help him.

“If you were taking care of yourself like you should be then you wouldn’t have been in this situation to begin with. I know it’s hard dealing with this shit on your own and I know you’d never ask for help which is why I flew my ass down here.

“Up here.”

“What?”

“You flew your ass up here you mean, you see Canada is above America, therefore, you’d have to fly up to be here”

Ohm just stared at him before he started to laugh, the tension between them started to melt away after that.

“I’m gonna need some help finishing this pizza you know, I hope pepperoni’s alright?”

“Sure, you want a drink? I got a couple beers in the fridge if you want one?”

“You’re alright thanks, I came prepared” Ohm grabbed the pizza and his rucksack before making his way to the couch.

Evan grabbed a beer from the fridge before joining his friend on the couch. Evan stared at Ohm in disbelief as he saw several cans of drinks in his bag. “Please don’t tell me that’s what I think it is”. Ohm laughed as he opened one of the cans he’d pulled from his bag.

“Told you I came prepared, nobody else ever has Brisk Iced Tea so I have to take it into my own hands”.

“You’re such a nerd”. They sat there talking and laughing for a couple of hours, simply enjoying each other’s company. Evan was often finding himself stealing glances at the man whilst he was animated in telling his stories, content to just listen and watch.

It was about 9pm when he pulled out his phone, pulling up discord and sending a quick message to the guys that he was gonna bail on recording for the next few days, instead taking some time for a much-needed break. He expected to receive a couple of small jabs about it but all of them were nothing but supportive, and at that moment Evan couldn’t have wished for better friends.

He then pulled up Twitter and posted a similar message for his fans, most of them sending him their well wishes. He smiled when he noticed Ohm, who was just in the bathroom, liked and commented on his post, the man really was a nerd.

“You know I’m right here, you don’t have to post on my twitter, you nerd.”

Ohm laughed as he sat back down next to Evan “First of all I wear the term nerd as a badge of honour” Evan scoffed at that, “and secondly, of course I’m going to support you online. Would you rather I tell them that I’m on your couch whilst you’re drooling over me? That’d start up the fanfictions” Evan turned pale after hearing that, he thought he’d been keeping his observations secret, but the smirk Ohm was aiming at him said otherwise.

“I don’t mind you staring at me Ev, it’s a lot to take in, Luke was the same when I first met him.” Ohms words reassured Evan a little, the older man sending him a smile before turning back to the Tv.

“You know there’s already fanfiction about us”. Evan beat himself up silently in his head, why on earth didn’t he keep his mouth shut.

Ohm turned to him with a curious look on his face which Evan couldn’t quite make out. “Any good?”

Getting over the shock of Ohm not being freaked out, Evan smirked before facing Ohm “I enjoyed the ones I’ve read, but I don’t think you’d enjoy them as much”

“Oh yeah why’s that” Ohm now turned his body towards Evan, the look on his face vanishing in favour of a teasing smirk.

“Because you’re my bottom bitch in all of them”. Ohms' eyes widened, and his face turned bright red as Evan could do nothing but laugh.

“No way, I’m older, wiser and more experienced, if anything you should be the bottom bitch” Ohm was still flustered as he stuttered out his response, Evan still laughing at the man trying to defend his authority.

“Clearly the fans know what they’re talking about. I can send you the links if you want, but the facts don’t lie” Evans laughter had died down, but still enjoying the bright red on Ohms' face.

“Send me the links then”. Now it was time for Evans' eyes to panic, he hadn’t expected Ohm to follow through on his remark. He tried to formulate a response, but nothing would come out of his mouth, he couldn’t send links of fics which had himself fucking his friend, to said friend in front of him.

Ohm seemed to sense his discomfort and put his hand on Evans' knee, causing him to blush at the contact, Ohm seemingly unaware of the effect he was having on the younger man. “I’m joking Ev, besides I’ve read most of them anyway”. Now Evan was shocked but for a completely different reason, he’s sure he’s starting to go crazy. He’s questioning whether he’d actually heard that or not when Ohm simply stands up and wishes Evan a good night before heading to the guest room.

Evan stayed on the couch thinking about what just happened. He’s not going to lie when he says he may have had a small crush on the masked gamer, and him turning up on his doorstep seemed to have increased it tenfold. Was this Ohms way of saying he felt the same?

Evan tried not to think too hard about it as he made his way to his own room, stripping down to his boxers and collapsing on top of his bed. It took a while to quiet his racing thoughts long enough to sleep, where his dreams were to be plagued by a certain man in the room next to him.

Black is the New Sin (Pt. 2)

**Just a few warnings: **This part is quite heavy and emotional. There are mentions of sexual abuse, violence and abuse to minors. I don’t think anyone will ever read this, but in case someone does, just know that there probably will be more parts like this and that I literally know nothing about the law or police work at all so bear with me on that. Thank you for reading and enjoy!

Shane

I opened my eyes. The first thing that I saw was a Rosie the Riveter poster that said, ‘we can do it!’ in thick, white letters. It kept me inspired and optimistic because, quite frankly, being a cop could be depressing sometimes. At least for me. I always had to wonder what was going on in some peoples’ lives that they would stoop to this level.

Sitting up, I checked my phone. There were no notifications, really. Nothing but IFunny and this one other game that I had. Sadly, there were no notifications from Zing.com.

That meant that there had been zero women that had liked my profile. 

Jesus, what was it? Was it because I was a cop and they thought I was hard and rude, maybe too serious? Was it... Was it because my hair was red? 

I decided to push that aside. It didn’t matter right now. 

After a quick shower and shave, I polished my boots and cleaned my gun. I took joy in maintaining my uniform because that meant that I could take pride in the aura of professionalism that leaked from the outskirts of the blast radius of my good looks. 

My second alarm went off, triggering me to holster my gun and hop up. I put my uniform on, then gelled up my hair and combed it into the perfect pompadour, or my everyday look. 

“Frankie!” I shouted playfully. Almost immediately, tiny paws began pattering throughout the apartment, eventually finding their way to  my bathroom door. I looked down to see the little black and white Boston terrier looking up at me expectantly. I gasped excitedly and knelt down.

“Oh, Mr. Sinatra, how are you this morning?” He started panting happily. 

Another alarm went off on my phone. Time to leave. 

On my way out the door, I dropped a cup of food in Frankie’s bowl. He immediately began chomping away at his bowl. 

“Good boy,” I whispered as I shut the door. I speed walked down to the parking garage and unlocked my 2010 SS Camaro from across the garage, checking the time as I did so. 

It was only 7:00. I had time to drop by the coffee shop and grab some bagels and coffees. I even knew what Finn would want. 

--

The coffee shop was nearly dead, so I strolled in and ordered two glazed donuts and two simple espressos. 

“We’ll have that right out to you, sir,” the barista behind the counter politely stated. I nodded with a small smile as I walked over to a table to have a seat. 

My phone dinged. I pulled it out of my pocket and looked at the screen, where a little gray bubble with text inside it floated just below the stated time. 

Message from: Finn Dahlgren

Finn: Mornin’, sunshine. Where you at?

I smiled to the screen as I scanned my thumb on the home button.

Shane: Getting some food at the coffee shop, I replied. A few seconds later, the little bubble to signal that he was typing popped up.

Finn: Oh. See anyone cute?

Shane: No. There ain’t anyone here.

Finn: So there’s no barista making your coffee?

Shane: Yes, there’s a barista.

Finn: Which one is it?

Shane: The cute one with coppery-blonde hair.

Finn: So there are some cute girls there.

Shane: No, I don’t want to bother her. Who she is is none of my business.

Finn: Just go for it. See you at work. 

I put my phone back in my pocket as the barista walked out with two cups and a small paper bag. I stood to meet her at the counter with my wallet at the ready. 

“Alright, Sir,” she shyly said. I leaned on the counter just a bit, trying to make it apparent that I wasn’t going to be a jerk or be too weird. Her shyness was understandable. I was a decently tall and muscular guy, and on top of that, I was wearing a police uniform. I looked a bit scary to some people. This barista, this girl, was on the shorter side and had a thin structure. In comparison to her, I was pretty much a gorilla. 

“That’ll be twenty-one, ninety-five,” she continued, looking up at me with crystal blue eyes. “Is that all you’ll need today?” I shook my head gently.

“No, miss, that’ll be all. I’d just like you to know that you’re very polite and professional. So, thank you for being such an awesome human being.”  She blushed a little and counted my cash before picking me out a nickel for change. 

“Well thank you, Officer, for protecting the city.” She handed me the small coin and, for the smallest second, our hands touched and our eyes lingered on each other. 

She smiled, pulling her hand away. Her cheeks were rather red. 

“Enjoy, Sir.”

“Have a lovely day.” 

With that, I turned on my heel and walked out the door. 

-- 

I dramatically burst through the doors of the Officers’ Lounge, striding over to a chair and jumping up onto it.

“Well look at that, Cowboy Harris,” Finn the Wisecrack shouted from the corner of the room, sauntering over to meet me. I handed him his coffee and held the bag out in my left hand, doing a weird surfer pose on my toes. I’d thrown my sunglasses on before I entered the room for dramatic effect. 

“The one and only,” I playfully answered before hopping off the chair and removing my glasses. 

“Yeah, you’re a real rock star,” Officer Jansen called from across the room. Rodriguez laughed and high-fived him. 

I made a dramatic, snobby face. “You’re just jealous that you’re not as fabulous as I am.” Everyone laughed. My watch beeped, signalling that it was time for work to start. I continued. “That makes eight, everyone! Get to work!” 

Finn and I, already knowing our assignment, headed out to the parking lot to where our squad car was. It was one of the relatively newer, nicer ones that the police department had purchased-- a Dodge Charger. 

“Well look at you, Dahlgren,” I teased. “Growing some facial hair.” I reached over to run my fingers on his rough stubble. He pulled away, irritated.

“Hey, I’m fuckin’ driving here, dumb ass,” he whined. I was about to reply something smart when the familiar ding of a notification sounded from my phone. I pulled it out to look at the screen.

“Who’s that? Your imaginary girlfriend?” He stabbed jokingly. I smirked as I momentarily diverted my eyes from the screen.

“No, it’s your little sister. She wants to know when I’m gonna lay down the pipe again,” I joked back as I read the notification. As soon as my eyes met the text, A rush of excitement shot through my body. 

It was from Zing.Com. 

Eden Halifax clicked ‘like’ on your profile!

Despite my excitement, I put my phone away, as we were almost to our call. I had to begin mentally preparing myself for this one. 

A man-- the victim’s uncle, to be exact-- had been sneaking into said victim’s house while the parents were away and doing... God, I was sick thinking about it. 

It brought back bad memories.

It was the reason that I even became a cop in the first place. 

Anyways, long story short, he’d been caught red handed via a hidden nanny cam within the house. Her dad was on his way home from work, but sadly enough for this creep, we’d arrived first.

“Shane, we’re here. We need to hurry.” I violently opened the door and did a hood slide, sprinting toward the house and bursting through the door long before Finn had even made it across the street. 

“Police!” I screamed as I ran past the living room. With every step I took, I became even more sickened and angry. 

They were in the main floor’s office, as I’d learned from the operator. I put my ear to the door to listen to the commotion for a second.

“I’m not letting you hurt me and make me feel worthless anymore!” A female voice screamed. This was followed by a thud and a grunt of pain.

“Ah! You little bitch! C’mere!” There were more screams.

I didn’t even check if the door was locked, and I didn’t even care where Dahlgren was. I was pissed. 

“Get on the ground!” I shouted after I kicked the door down. He was advancing on her angrily. She was seemingly alright, as she had apparently fighting him off. He was only more angry, aggressive, and determined to bring harm to that girl. He didn’t even seem to notice me.

I watched him raise his hand before I sprung on him and pinned him against the wall.

“You’re under arrest,” I growled into his ear as I attempted to handcuff him. He headbutted me and attempted to wrestle away from me. This resulted in me slamming him onto the floor roughly and digging my knee into his lower back. 

At this moment, Finn decided to run in and assist me in the arrest. Once he was cuffed, I told him to take care of the girl. As they exited the room, I rolled the suspect onto his back.

“Hey, I didn’t do a fuckin’ thing, man,” he spat.

“Bullshit,” I shouted. “That’s your fuckin’ niece! Your niece! And you’re in here doing bad stuff to her, hurting her?! You wanna know how she feels when you do that shit to her? You wanna know how she feels when her peers bully her about being a slut because you can’t fucking control yourself?!” I continued shouting as I stepped off of him, going to get another officer to come in here. Just before I exited the room, I turned around and shot my finger at him accusingly.

“You’re fucking sick, and you’re going to jail.” I said in a quieter manner. My voice quivered angrily. I stormed out of the room, out of the house. I stormed right up to Officer Dan Cruz and ran my fingers through my hair. 

“You need to go deal with that son of a bitch before I get mad and do something bad,” I commanded before walking back into the house and up to Finn and the girl. She was in tears and Finn was just standing there, not really knowing what to do. He was never good with emotions, or kids. 

I nodded at him to step away and knelt down to meet her shaking frame’s position in the corner. She looked up at me. I was pretty sure I was crying, too, because cases like these were always the closest to home. 

She jumped into my arms, and I held her, comforted her, while we both wept. 

“Everything’s gonna be alright,” I managed to say through my tears. “He ain’t gonna hurt you anymore.” 

I almost forgot about the special someone who’d liked my profile.