common sense • rini/jolivia one shots

safe and sound

"Nini! we have another case!"

the brunette spins around in her chair, seeing her coworker drop a file on her desk before hurrying out. she picks it up, her face dropping at the details. she logs out of her desktop and grabs her badge and keys, leaving her office.

"hey, i have to go do a removal. can you come with me for backup?" she asks her supervisor.

the two women are heading to her car within minutes. it wasn't an easy job, being an officer with Child Protective Services in Utah. she worked out of the SLC branch, getting a job there right after she graduated from college a little over three years ago with a degree in child advocacy. it was a rough field to be in but it was her passion. it did mean that there were days she'd come home and cry into Ricky's arms about how tough her job was. but she was saving lives and that's all that mattered.

the women pull up in front of a brownstone in the downtown area, taking a deep breath after Nini turns her car off. not a lot of people would expect a child living in the richest part of town to be in danger but that was often the case.

they approach the door, their badges held out as the knock. a disheveled redhead answers, already knowing who they were from previous visits, "no, no please you can't take them!"

"ma'am, step aside." the older woman says as Nini steps inside the house, searching for the two children.

she finds them cowering upstairs in a corner of their bedroom, "hey guys, do you remember me? i'm Miss Nini, i'm gonna take you guys with me okay? you're safe now, i promise."

the kids flinch as she reaches for them and she can see the distinct bruises on their arms, indicating that they'd been grabbed and pulled around. she guides them out to her car and settles them in the backseat, her supervisor joining her back in the car before they're heading back to the office.

Nini settles the kids in the play room and orders them some food, making sure her colleagues were keeping an eye on them before she heads back to her office to start her paperwork. it was barely lunch time and that was the second removal she's done today. it was tough.

she smiles at the framed photo of her and her longtime boyfriend sitting on her desk. he was her rock through this job, always there to hold her at the end of a tough day, celebrating her wins with her, as well as the tragic losses that unfortunately came with the job.

she jolts a little when another file is dropped onto her desk, "this is the last case Jeff had before he left. i need you to go do a house check on this girl. shes four, her name is Ella, she lives with her mom and dad but they have a history of drug abuse and she has already been removed from the home once when she was a year old. Jeff said everything was in stable condition but then again, we fired him so we need you to run and check on her to make sure she's actually okay."

she nods and gets up from her desk again. she grabs the file and heads down the hall, checking through the window that the two kids from earlier were doing okay before she left. the drive to Ella's house is a little long, she lives on the edge of the city so it takes a bit to get there but before long, she's pulling up to the house.

from the outside everything looks good, almost perfect. it's a nice neighborhood, a playground down the street, lots of kids riding their bikes, it was ideal for a family with a small child.

she steps up on the porch and rings the doorbell. nobody answers. she rings it one more time and checks to make sure that the cars were in the driveway, she tries to peak in the window next to the door but can't see anything. she knocks rapidly a few times, beginning to get a little worried.

suddenly the door flies open and Nini is face to face with a small brunette girl, "hi...are you Ella?"

the girl nods and Nini takes a moment to look her over. the little girls hair is a knotted mess, there's stains on her clothes and her shoes have holes in them.