𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐅𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐃─𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬

forty six.

─☼☼☼─

𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙍𝙇𝙊𝙏𝙏𝙀 𝙒𝘼𝙎 𝙎𝙏𝙄𝙇𝙇 pretty sure she was in the middle of a cardiac episode by the time they pulled up to the detention center. That was way too close a call for her liking. 

"Charls." JJ muttered as he pulled into the transfer bay. "Pull it together, you're shaking."

She looked over at him, eyes wide with panic. "I'm trying." She argued, placing a hand over her chest to calm her breathing. 

"Hey." JJ said, turning to face her in the ambo. "Look at me, alright? I'm not gonna let anything happen to you. If anything goes down, you're not taking the heat, okay?"

Staring back at him for a moment, Charlotte pushed her lips into a firm line. "You're not going down alone." She said quietly, voice still wobbling slightly. "We're in this together."

JJ couldn't fight the smile that spread across his face as he nodded. "That's my girl." He looked over at his shoulder toward the detention center, letting out a quick breath. "Let's do this thing."

Leaning out the window, JJ gave the side of the ambulance to quick hits. "Alright, load 'em up!"

Charlotte watched out the side mirror as the nurse looked confused for a moment before she fixed JJ with a less than pleased expression. "You gonna get your patient here, chief?"

A forced smile spread to JJ's face as Charlotte felt the doom creep over her once again. They were so busted. 

"Yeah! " JJ called, shooting Charlotte a concerned look before hurrying out of the ambulance. "Right on. Yeah, I'm gonna get my patient."

The nurse nodded toward the doors. "Well come on then."

The nurse proceeded to ask JJ where Ricky was, and for the second time that night, JJ came up with a quick lie. Thank God for his ability to evade the truth. 

Meanwhile, Charlotte continued to give herself a pep talk to avoid a full on panic attack. Her eyes flitted between the scene unfolding behind her, and the entrance to the detention center, terrified she was going to see a whole unit rolling in to arrest the two of them. 

But her incessant attention shifting halted when her eyes caught on the patient that was currently being wheeled out of the jail...their patient. 

But he was not at all who he was supposed to be. Because whoever that guy way, he was not John B. 

"Shit." The word flew from Charlotte's mouth in a breath as she spun in her seat, watching the way JJ's body language instantly changed. 

He glanced over his shoulder, his eye catching Charlotte's in the mirror as both of them paled in panic. 

Tearing his eyes away from his partner, JJ looked back toward the doors. "Uh, is that the only patient tonight there, Ma'am?"

The nurse let out a laugh. "Why? You want to take more than one tonight?"

"I mean I would if I had to. That's what I'm trying to say." He pulled off his hat, crushing it in his hands. "I was just gonna say, I was called in because my patient had an appendicitis....no?"