Although it had been a couple of days since Hannah’s visit, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. I didn’t want to be the aunt that was a complete idiot and had ignored the signs that something was up. I had decided that I would check up on them later today with Kevin. With a sigh I looked in the mirror and realized how pale and shitty I was looking. Usually I was good at masking my pain or problems. That was my cop thing. Today I really didn’t give a care. I just wanted to get this day over with and go home and sleep. Sluggishly I got out of the car and dragged my ass towards the station. The first person I saw was Kevin. He was hanging out in front of our cruiser.

“Hey my favorite partner…” he gave me that goofy hot smile and I smiled back.

I was still embarrassed about bursting into tears here and there while on the job. Kevin is an easy going person and he would just say ‘let it all out’, but I was still embarrassed. So the first thing I did was apologize again. “Listen I’m so sorry about how I‘ve been acting.”

Kevin sighed heavily and squinted his eyes as he looked up at the sky. “You know I care about you. I want you to be ok.” I rolled my eyes and nodded. “We can’t do our job well if we have a lot of shit on our minds. So, I was thinking that you need to talk to Alex. Just try to fix things with him.”

“There is nothing to fix.”

“See there you go again. Um…Sophia we all know about you and Alex. You are the only one in denial and probably your father.”

“You know?”

He pursed his lips and did a big eye roll. “Believe me it’s very obvious…the chemistry between you two. Which at some point was annoying to me, but anyways. You have to either go for it and screw what your dad thinks. I mean, in the end he will except what you do cause it’s your life. Or you need to just let it all go and focus on being the best cop you can be. I can’t work with you when you are a jumble of emotions…it‘s exhausting.”

My mouth fell agape and I was glaring at him now. “Oh so now I’m hard to work with?”

Kevin didn’t answer he just gave me shrug. I took that as the end of our conversation and I stormed inside just to crash into Alex. My stomach fluttered and I took a deep breath. I heard him apologize and walk away. Maybe Kevin was right. I had to make the effort to make things right with Alex. Although, I had to admit that I was scared of his reaction. I knew he’d seen me, there was no way he hadn’t. I stood next to him, but he continued with his conversation with the officer at the front desk.

I cleared my throat, “Alex can I talk to you please.”

He sighed and turned to look at me with his dreamy eyes. Then he started walking towards the offices. “There isn’t much to talk about!”

With a bit of hesitation I grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him into an empty office. He was staring at me like I was crazy, but I just wiped my hands on my jeans and bit on my lip. I wasn’t sure how to start this conversation.

“I know I messed up! I’m so sorry…I freaked out.”

“You don’t have to worry about it anymore. I’m letting you off the hook.” He was saying it, but I didn’t believe him. He wasn’t looking me in the eyes and I was kinda happy about it. I didn’t want him to see the tears.

“Alex you know damn well that I love you!”

Just as he opened his mouth to speak, the door opened and in popped a blonde’s head. She must’ve been new, cause I’d never seen her. She gave a friendly smile and looked at both of us. “I’m so sorry for interrupting. Um…Alex, I just wanted to make sure we are still on for dinner at my place tonight.” The friendly smile had turned into a flirty one.

Ugh.

Alex smiled back and nodded. “Yes, I’ll be there when my shift ends.”

She giggled and gave him a wave. I felt stupid. Of course Mclean moves on quickly. Screw this, maybe it was good to be off the hook. I wouldn’t have to worry about my father or what everyone else said. I sniffed back the tears and stomped out the room. He didn't follow me.

Rounding the corner I crashed into Kevin. “Where did you go? You ok?”

I faked a smile, “I’m peachy. Hey you wanna do me a favor?”

He raised his brows with anticipation. “Sure, as long as I don’t have to--”

I cut him off. Kevin can be a bit slow sometimes and it gets a bit irritating. “Come on. I need to check on my sister. I have a feeling something is not right.”

Angie lives just as close as we do to the station, only she lives in the shitty area. Kevin parked in the middle of the rocky road, we hopped out and slowly began towards the door. I started to get nervous when I saw the screen door hanging by it’s hinges and and the main door was wide open. There was a whimpering coming from inside and my stomach dropped. Kevin and I drew our guns. It was safety protocol. We both slowly crept up the stairs and pointed our guns towards the door. I gave him a look and he volunteered to go first.

“Angie? Are you alright?” I hollered entering the room. It was mayhem inside. Things were knocked over, dishes broken…it was like a tornado had passed through the inside of her usually beautiful trailer.

I know what you are thinking, of course, the woman lives in a trailer park. Angie lives in one of the nicest trailer parks in town. It looks like a community and the trailers are double wide, so they look like houses. Sadly they are in a bad area. There is even a security guard usually patrolling, but right now he was nowhere to be found.

“Aunt Soph help!” I heard the voice and panic rose in my heart. My lungs constricted and I froze. Instead of running towards Hannah’s voice. I froze in place. I was too afraid to face what could be wrong with her. Somehow, even though Kevin and I haven’t been partners for too long. We know each other too well. I say this because, I didn’t even have to tell Kevin to go see for me. He gave me a nod and disappeared through the narrow hallway.

“Sophia call for an ambulance NOW!” I heard Kevin shout and finally I snapped out of my trance. I dialed right away and called in for the paramedics. Angie and I may not get along like normal sisters should, but she is still my blood and I care.

Hesitantly I entered the room and cringed at the sight of my sister laying there, with bruises and blood all over her face. “Holy shit Angie. Are you alright? Can you hear me?” Her eyes were slightly open and she was trying to tell me something.

“He is still here…” Hannah whispered and looked towards her room. Just then I saw a shadow fly out and run towards the door. I flew up and sprinted towards the door and jumped on whatever or whoever it was. I landed with a grunt and was face to face with the security guard.

“I didn’t do anything she didn’t deserve.” I rolled off him and Kevin picked him up like he was a feather. “She tried to jack me man. Damn junkie…wanted to give me her daughter in exchange for blow.”

I tightened the cuffs around his wrist to where I knew they would more than hurt. He whined and wiggled, but I didn’t care. I flung the door open and pushed his ass out of the house. He stumbled on the stairs and fell on his face. By now there were two other cruisers and officers standing guard.

“You were going to take the offer weren’t you…” I looked at his name tag. “Brad…you were going to hurt my niece…”

He was on his feet now and looking at me in horror. “I was…no…maybe…if the dumb bitch wouldn't have freaked out.”

"Is that why you hit her?"

“Ok Sophia why don’t we just let them take him.” He put a hand on my shoulder and I shrugged it away. I was so angry that I was crying. I wanted to hurt him and if I could get away with it, I would have blown his dick off. Instead I punched him right in the jaw. I heard the officers all gasp in surprise but no one moved a muscle, not even when I kicked him as hard as I could in the ribs. He cried out in pain so I did it again.

"What the hell is going on?" I heard Howie's concerned voice and saw him pushing his way through the officers. "Sophia! Stop!"

I stopped and turned to look at him. He looked at me with concern and then back at the scrawny security guy, who was now standing with Kevin's help. "He deserves it! Actually...he deserves this..." Cut me some slack here, i'm not usually this violent. The thought of him even thinking about violating Hannah pissed me off. Plus, I have a lot of things on my mind and I want someone to feel my pain. I took out my gun and pointed it at his package.

He squealed. "Get this crazy bitch away from me!"

"Christ, Sophia what is with you. Put that thing away...you are going to get nothing but a suspension if you pull that trigger. Please put it down." I was breathing hard and my finger was on the trigger, but one look into Howie's concerned eyes made me lower the damn thing. The last thing I need is a suspension.

Kevin was holding the security who was still going on about me being crazy and how he had rights. Howie was shaking his head and I was trying to justify my actions. 

"He sells drugs to Angie AND he was going to rape our niece. Our Hannah...he was going to hurt her." I sniffled and waited for HOwie's reaction.

He stood perfectly still his eyes fixed on the scrawny guy. I could see the pain in his eyes now. He was still processing it all, when I saw someone strike scrawny right in the gut. Scrawny bent over in pain and fell to his knees with a loud grunt.

I'd thought it was Howie, but my eyes were on him the whole time. Then I turned to look and Alex was standing right next to Howie with his cop stance.

It might be stupid. Childish maybe...I suddenly felt safer.

I started thinking that, although, the camping trip was bound to end up a disaster. I couldn't wait to be out of this uniform and around my family. Maybe we needed this trip to bring us back together. What could really go wrong out in the wilderness?