Her AU Book Two

Real Never Waits

A/N Welcome to the final chapter of this book! Please relax and enjoy the read!

~Princess <3

*At the Apartment: Nighttime*

Ana had been in New York for the past few days after hearing that a judge had made her mother the court-appointed custodial guardian of a baby she had rescued in the course of working a case. Olivia then revealed on the phone that she planned to permanently adopt him once she could get everything sorted out. The younger woman took all of one second before making the decision to fly out and meet her new little brother, Noah Porter-Benson.

An hour after returning to Chicago found the Captain relaxing in her bed with a book in hand. Because of her brief absence from the state, she had no reason to expect that a shouting match would occur down below. Sure enough, Kelly's infuriated voice reached her ears a few seconds later.

". . .You left here like a coward, in the middle of the night!" He yelled.

"I-"

"SHUT IT!" The Lieutenant suddenly shouted, unknowingly making Ana jump a bit. "Not to mention you rolled us for about 5 grand, so excuse me if my fuse is about this short since you slinked your way back in here!"

At this point, the brunette knew he was blowing up at Devon because he would NEVER talk to Leslie like that. All of his feelings about the situation must have boiled over and, honestly, if she had been the one to wake up and find that the hoodlum was staying over at their place again she probably would've had a similar reaction.

"You don't know anything about me, so you can save your big man routine-"

"I know that you're a thief! I know you're a loser! I know you're bad news for Shay! So why don't you just take your stuff- your stuff. . . and crawl back to wherever the Hell you came from?" Kelly spat. "Huh?"

There was silence for moment before Ana could've sworn she heard Leslie's voice join the fray but it was quickly overshadowed by the sound of footsteps bounding up the stairs in her direction. The Lieutenant walked in a few seconds later and closed the door before leaning against it with a sigh.

"You okay?" The Captain inquired, not receiving a response at first. "What's going on, Kelly?"

"Just one of those days." He shook his head tearing up a little.

The brunette merely set her book aside and pulled the covers back on his side of the bed.

"Come on." She smiled, patting the mattress.

Her husband let out a small breath before slipping in next to her and fixing the blankets so they were snug around both of them. She moved to lay her head on his shoulder, feeling him wrap his arms around her tightly in return.

"Talk to me, Love." Ana murmured, placing a hand on his stomach and intertwining the other with the one on her bicep. "What happened?"

"I gave an all-clear at a school fire today." Kelly began, quietly. "And when we went to do the secondary search, we found a kid. . . badly burned."

"Oh, Honey, I'm sorry." The Captain whispered, softly, knowing that feeling all too well.

"I was moving too fast. Too many rooms, not enough time." The Lieutenant muttered. "He's ten. The kid's only ten."

"It's not your fault, Kelly." Ana assured, vehemently.

"I don't know that." He argued, gently. "I'll never know that."

The brunette was silent for a bit and began stroking the back of his hand comfortingly as she mentally prepared herself for what she was about to say next.