by Martha Woods
* * *
Damon shuffled closer, placing his hand on my thigh and squeezing down just enough to let me know that he was there for me. Vincent stayed where he was, but the link that we shared was more than enough to tell me that his thoughts were with me.
* * *
“He asked me for a second opinion on a case that someone had been working, everything looked good to go but he just wasn’t sure about the results that they’d found. I looked at it for about ten seconds and told him that they were being pointed in the complete opposite direction, that they were going to arrest someone completely innocent and let a murderer go free,” I laughed, “You should have seen the look on his face, like I’d kicked down his door and personally called him a fucking moron. He took the file back without a word and I didn’t see him for the rest of the day, until I got word that they’d brought in someone on murder charges and the usual lab tech came grumbling through about how they’d completely disregarded his theory.”
* * *
“He trusted you just like that?”
“Yep, just like that. I didn’t expect to get a job afterwards, I was too sharp with my tongue and too quick to give my own input when people were going down the obvious wrong path. So imagine my surprise when a few weeks after my internship ends I go to my mailbox and find a letter from the department sitting in there, telling me that I did such a good job and was such a valuable part of the team that they wanted to offer me an immediate interview.”
* * *
Damon whistled, “Full ride huh?”
* * *
“Yep, all because I basically told Rick that his current tech didn’t know his dick from a centrifuge and that it was going to get someone wrongfully arrested or killed one day. Guess he really took that lesson to heart considering that tech wasn’t there when I started work.”
* * *
“So…” Damon shut his mouth, clearly agonizing over what to say. It was easy to tell where the conversation was heading, but I was going to let him get there on his own time. “What… what changed? How could he go from someone who trusts the instincts of a complete rookie to… whatever the hell he is now?”
“That first night that he found out about us, about paranormals, it was a very rude awakening for him. If the fact that the murder suspect that he’d been chasing for months with no luck had taken his form and gotten stabbed by me right as he walked in didn’t completely screw him up, having to cover for us performing an actual blood ritual to bring someone back from the dead definitely did.” I grimaced, only now remembering the absolutely lost expression that he’d had on his face that entire night. Even a few days later when we sat down and I gave him a basic run through of how paranormals worked he still had a… lost look in his eyes, like something had shattered and just wasn’t getting put back together. “Maybe I just didn’t have the answers that he wanted, maybe someone else found him and told him the things that he thought he wanted to know, and now he can’t believe anything else.”
* * *
“That’s… more likely than you would think,” Damon sighed, “Tristian did always have a silver tongue when it really mattered, he’s too ornery to keep it up for long but in short bursts he’d be able to tell you the sky was purple and you would absolutely believe him. A rattled cop who’s nearing retirement age honestly wouldn’t be much of a challenge for him at all, all he has to do is tell him what he wants to believe.”
* * *
“I wanted to believe that Rick was immune to that sort of thing, but the department has been falling into the ground under his guidance for months now. I think… yeah, maybe he’s just burnt out and looking for the truth in wherever is going to give it to him easily. I just can’t believe it was so… easy for him to be fooled like that, and now I have to kill him.”
* * *
“People we care about sometimes let us down, that’s just a part of life. But just because they let you down doesn’t mean that you don’t have other people that will look out for you, it’s important to us that you know that,” Vincent said, “Damon, myself, Joseph, Cara, we all want to stay by your side through every bittersweet moment that you’ll allow us to remain there.”
* * *
“Kind of asking for disappointment there aren’t you? Who would want to stay for the bitter?”
* * *
“It’s all part of being with someone that you love. I’ve lived a long time and haven’t felt love in a very long time, but I know that it’s what I feel for you. I’m not going to run away because things have gotten a little rough lately, I’m here until the end of the line.”
* * *
There wasn’t much that I could say to that to actually do it justice, I felt stupid, I’d neverdoubted that they were going to stick around, not exactly, but with Rick turning against us like he did… I have to admit that some part of me was unsure if anyone was actually going to stay, or if they were eventually going to leave me too. To just have the comfort of them saying it out loud, just like the comfort of eating a simple meal with the two of them in silence, it did so much to just make me feel like some weight had been taken off my shoulders. I still had so much to deal with, trying to find a way to deal with someone who was the head of the forensic department for the whole city wasn’t going to be easy, but for now… for now I could relax into their arms and just feel at peace.
* * *
There was nowhere that I would rather be.
* * *
“Amy!”
There she was, standing up and shouting in the middle of the cafe like we were the only two in the world who actually existed. God I’d missed her.
“Hey Cara,” I said, pulling her into my arms and squeezing tightly around her. It had been far too long since we’d actually sat down and just talked like friends, I wasn’t going to let anything stop that today no matter what. Though maybe I was getting a little overzealous with my hug, given that she started tapping me on the back and gasping for air.
“Jeez Amy,” She coughed, grinning up at me and rubbing my arm, “I know it’s been a while, but you don’t have to kill me over it!”
“Sorry, sorry! I’m just...” I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck, “It’s really good to see you again. I missed you.”
“Aww, I missed you too babe. Now come on, let’s grab a seat and you can tell me all about what you’ve been up to lately!”
We’d decided to meet in our usual cafe, after an impulsive call that I’d made the previous night. Damon and Vincent hadn’t been sure about it, but neither of them were going to stand in the way of me wanting to see my best friend again, especially with how everything else had gone lately I needed someone who wasn’t so intimately involved with every aspect of my life.
* * *
Besides, it was Cara, I’d made a promise to be honest with her, and though I could maybe get away with hiding a human sacrifice from her, the fact that my boss was either out to kill me or flat out just didn’t care if I died wasn’t exactly something that I could just sweep under the rug. I’d been keeping an eye on my rearview mirror the entire drive over, I kept expecting some unmarked cop car to roll up beside me and blast the entire car with gunfire, but maybe I’d just watched too many mafia movies. I had to admit that it was more of a possibility now than it had ever been before in my life, so I’m not exactly thrilled about that. Logically I shouldn’t even be involving Cara in any of this if I’m afraid that people are after me but… it’s Cara, and I’ve left her behind enough times before. If she wants to stay with me through this, I’m going to let her. But I want her to know that’s the decision she’s making.
* * *
“So come on, let’s get started,” She said, patting at the chair next to her and grinning widely, “It’s been way too long since we actually had a coffee together, but I still remembered how you liked it.”
“Terribly made?”
“Well they don’t do that here, but it’s still really strong at least!” She leaned on her hand, watchi
ng me sit down and get myself comfortable before speaking again, “So you and the two boys huh?”
“What?” I blushed instinctually, it wasn’t hard to figure out what exactly she was referring to. We’d known each other since college, lived near each other for years, by the end of our time in the dorms we’d more or less heard every high pitched praise and demand that either of us could ever make in our lives, a little sex talk shouldn’t be something to be embarrassed about compared to hearing it through the walls for years on end. Maybe that’s why I’m so embarrassed about it now, I can’t exactly brush this off as just sex anymore, Vincent and Damon weren’t exactly a drunken stranger from a frat party.
“Oh,” She said, eyes going wide, “Wow, you’re blushing. Things really are working out well then aren’t they?”
“It’s not that… ok, it is that a little bit, but there’s more to the two of them than just sex. I just can’t believe it sometimes, I keep thinking that I’m going to wake up and have all of this be a dream but no, I actually have two men who love me and treat me right.” I trailed off in thought, mouth almost starting to water. “Two handsome, extremely ripped, extremely talented men…”
“Oh come on! I was actually starting to get a little sappy there and you have to bring me right back around to wanting!” She fell against the back of her chair, crossing her arms and huffing, “Not fair, you get all the good stuff.”
“Oh? What about Tariq?” I’d always been the punchline for her jokes, even though I did like being able to make her laugh it was nice when I could get a little back myself. “I thought that by now the two of you would be shaking the walls down.”
“Oh please,” She scoffed, rolling her eyes with just the barest hint of a blush, “He’s too… polite to just come onto me like that, if he would just try I would absolutely be down for it, have you seen him? I think… he wants to be romantic and caring before anything else.”
“And… isn’t that a good thing?”
“Yea! Normally! Not when I want him so desperately that I can barely stop myself from jumping on his lap whenever we meet up, I’m a mess Amy!”
“No, you’re not,” I said, smiling in glee, “That’s what you’re complaining about.”
“Oh screw you,” She laughed, “Not all of us have two big, tough men to handle everything itch that we need to scratch. Speaking of, you’re not getting out of telling me details you hear? I didn’t come here just for you to grill my love life.”
“Yeah yeah, we’ll get to me soon, but I really want to know about you and Tariq!” I reached out, rubbing my thumb along her knuckles and smiling encouragingly. “Really, I’m being genuine right now. Why haven’t you told him how you feel?”
She sighed, not from annoyance but… genuine sadness it seemed. Now I was really interested in what she had to say, but just like Vincent and Damon I wasn’t going to rush her, if she really wanted to tell me she would on her own time.
* * *
“It’s just… we’ve been talking for a while, and I’ve loved all of it. He’s so nice, not in a way that means that he just wants people to like him but genuinely nice, like I couldn’t go out to coffee with him once because I was sick, and he offered to come on over and watch a movie anyway. Gave me the option to say no and said that if I wanted him to leave at any time he would, no strings attached. So he came over and sat next to me on the couch and we just… talked for the whole night, about where we came from, what we want to do, everything basically.” She smiled, rubbing her hand around her wrist idly. “I was actually hoping to sleep with him that night but… that didn’t end up working out.”
“What happened?” I asked, “Did he not want to?”
“No it’s not that it’s… when we were talking I said that I wanted to know everything about him, if we were actually going to have a hope of something working out in the future that’s kind of a requirement right?” She looked away, and before she blinked I could swear that her eyes were shining with tears. “He started telling me about his wife, how they’d met, why they’d wanted to come over here, the type of woman she was. She seemed like such a wonderful woman… then he… he told me how she died.”
* * *
“Oh,” I said, there wasn’t really much else that I could say at that point. It was hard enough for me to hear it, I couldn’t imagine what she was feeling when he told her. “Tariq has… been through a lot.”
“I know,” She said, “He’s been through so much and almost lost everything but he’s still so wonderful. It’s only fitting that he had such a wonderful wife, and it’s just so unfair that she got taken away from him, they both deserved so much better.”
* * *
Cara sniffled, finally picking up her napkin and dabbing at her eyes. “He still loves her, anyone with even a hint of a brain can see that, once you hear about her you can definitely understand why too. And it’s just… how can I compare to her? How selfish would I have to be to expect him to be able to move on from someone like her, I wouldn’t be able to move on from her!”
* * *
“I…” Had to be careful of how I said what I said next, but Cara needed to hear it. Her heart was breaking right in front of me and I could do something about it, I just needed to… word it in a way that didn’t make me sound like a clueless idiot. That shouldn’t be hard, I’m a pretty smart person, but smart people are not immune to sounding like dumbasses, trust me.
* * *
“Maybe I’m biased for obvious reasons, but I don’t think that you have to move on from someone to be able to love someone else. Clearly you care about him, and you would have to be completely blind to see that he cares about you, jesus whenever you’re not around I can barely get him to shut up about you, but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t honor his wife’s memory. Tariq is just… so full of love, he’s agonized so long over these feelings but I think that finally he’s found someone that he can be happy with. Not to move on with, just to be able to have some happiness with.”
* * *
Leaning forward as best I could, given that there was a table pushing into my side, I wrapped my arms around her and squeezed tightly, hand rubbing lightly along her back to try and sooth some of the hurt that she was no doubt still holding onto. “You both deserve to be loved so much, you should let yourself feel some of it.”
* * *
Understandably she didn’t reply for a while, just burying her face in my shoulder and letting the tears that she’d been holding back until now flow freely. This wasn’t exactly what I’d imagined was going to happen when I came here for coffee, but if I could be a source of comfort for a friend who so dearly needed it in such a strange time I was more than willing to do what I could for her. Cara had been there for me through the years, through every bitter disappointment and bad breakup, she’d been there to lead me through the sadness and towards something new, even if it wasn’t exactly happiness, she was going to take me to something different. Well now I had a chance to lead her towards happiness, with someone who so desperately needed it as well, what kind of person would I be if I didn’t take that opportunity?
* * *
“You know,” She finally said, my eyes already rolling when I heard the smile in her voice, “Just because you’re banging two guys at once doesn’t mean you’re the love guru.”
* * *
“You’re right, it makes me better.” I pushed her back, flicking her on the forehead and smirking at her offense. “There, that’s for not being grateful.”
“I am grateful!” She sighed, “...Thank you Amy, really, for everything. I’ve been a mess over this for a while and I guess I just needed my best friend to tell me that everything was alright.”
“Well whenever you need it I’ll be here to tell you, believe that. I’m not leaving you behind again, not ever. But… that does remind me of why I came here in the first place.”
“What?” Cara pulled back, looking at me with wide eyes and a growing unease on her face. “What do you mean by tha
t? Has something gone wrong with anything?”
* * *
“You could say that.” I ran a hand down my face, this was not a conversation that I was looking forward to having at all. “I thought about not telling you this because it’s so bad, but I promised that I would tell you everything, or at least tell you that something was happening rather than keeping you in the dark. And as much as I don’t want to admit it… this could affect you as well, knowing our luck, but I want you to know that I’m going to do everything I can to prevent that from happening.”
* * *
“Amy you’re kind of scaring me, what’s going on?”
“Did Tariq tell you anything about what happened last week?”
She leaned back, closing her eyes in recollection. “No… but when I went and saw him one day he looked kind of beaten up, like he’d been in a pretty bad fight. He told me that it was just because of training but I’ve seen his training once or twice, it doesn’t leave bruises on his ribs as big as I saw then.”
* * *
“No, it doesn’t.” Here it was, moment of truth. “Cara… the hunters tried to kill all of us last week and even though we didn’t lose anyone we came pretty close. I was already investigating the murders of two witches as it was, I couldn’t get there to fight until it was all over.”
