A Place For Us

Chapter Fourteen

Disclaimer: I do not own West Side Story or any element of it.

When Darcy and Lieutenant Shrank arrived at the station, a handful of the officers were already there. Darcy spotted Krupke sitting at his desk, a half eaten doughnut and coffee sitting by his side.

They walked in and Shrank pointed towards his office.

"Go sit in there. Make sure everything from the past two weeks is time stamped correctly," he instructed.

Not in the mood to disagree, she nodded and disappeared, thankful to be able to shut herself away.

Setting up a big pile for herself to work through, she began to distract herself from the evening by focusing on the work at hand. Every now and then, she would glance out the window and see her dad talking to some of the officers, instructing them accordingly. They always listened to him and respected what he had to say. Maybe he and Riff were alike in that way, she thought. Both had people that were willing to lay themselves down for them.

After a couple of hours, she glanced up at the clock and realised it was the early hours of the morning. She stretched and wandered out to find a pot of coffee.

Outside, it was quiet.

Riff and the Jets walked down the street, occasionally laughing and shushing each other in turn.

From their hands, buckets of bricks and rocks hang heavy.

While the rest of the Jets jostled, Riff remained mostly silent on the walk over. He was still stewing, his hands gripped tightly against the handle of his bucket, thinking about Shrank's words over and over again.

He figured a bit of damage to police property would send a nice message in return, but not cause enough trouble that he couldn't get himself out of. With tensions high between them and the Sharks rising up, the police had more to worry about than broken windows.

He did not, however, notice that a couple of the Jets had also decided to bring along some additional materials.

As they turned onto the street of the station, they slowed down and became hushed. The air between them fizzled with excitement. Riff smiled to himself. It felt good to be back.

Darcy stepped into the main office and walked over to Krupke.

"More?" she asked, pointing to his now empty mug.

"Yeah. Thanks," he replied, barely looking up.

She took it from him and began to walk towards the kitchen, feeling herself growing tired.

When she returned to the desks, she placed it back down in front of Krupke. This time, he sat back and looked up at her.

"Thanks, kid."

"No problem."

He glanced over his shoulder, checking for Shrank, before turning back and leaning forward to whisper, "Just so you know, I didn't say anything to the Lieutenant about the dance."

"I know," she said with a sad smile. "Thank you."

"And I know it 'ain't none of my business, but he cares about you. So if he's a little harsh, he only means well."

She gave him a grateful look and turned away to walk back towards Shrank's office, shutting herself away once more.

The Jets crept around the outside perimeter of the station, setting down their tools.

"Hey," Baby John spoke quietly. "Some of the lights are on it looks like."

Some of the Jets poked their heads up to have a look. Riff frowned. There was a low glow of light coming from some of the side windows, but not fully.