The Case of Monachopsis

Chapter 7: Just "Work" Friends

Ira leaned in and kissed him deeply, holding him close as he responded enthusiastically. Elijah couldn't explain the need he felt for her, the desire, or the desperation that was so deep inside him. He couldn't get enough of her touch and her warmth. So much so, he let himself get swept up in her passion and her power, letting her take the lead. It felt good to let go, and surrender to her will. He wanted her to do with him as she pleased. Ira was the one in charge now, and he was at her mercy, completely and utterly.

She broke the kiss after a moment and stepped back, her eyes bright with satisfaction. Elijah's face was flushed, and his hands were shaking a little. He had never experienced such passion before, but it felt so, so good. She looked at his scars, then back at him as her lips twisted into a big smile. Elijah's heart flipped at such a cute sight. He missed being close to someone without having the added fear of rejection. It made him feel more alive than ever.

"Do you want more?" She asked him, her voice low but with an edge of excitement to it.

He wanted more than anything, but all he could manage as he responded was a faint nod of his head.

"What was that? Cat got your tongue?" Ira teased.

He felt his face flush with embarrassment as he hid behind his hands. Ira was quick to remove them from his face and kiss him again, this time even deeper than before. Her arms wrapped around him as they remained embraced for a long while, their hearts beating hard. His heart felt so full, until Elijah opened his eyes to find himself staring at a wall. Realizing he had been dreaming this entire time, Elijah groaned and rubbed his warm face. Shame mixed with disappointment washed over him as he sat up from his bed. It was a relief to have slept so well, but he knew it shouldn't have been at the cost of dreaming about his co-worker.

Ira had done him a favor by staying without even knowing the true extent of the situation. It made him realize just how selfless she still was, despite how unkind the world had been to her. He owed her his thanks, and apologies for even thinking of smashing lips with her. Absent-mindedly, Elijah rubbed his mouth and wondered what her reaction to his dream would be. He already had the reputation of being a prude, but he'd never want to make her feel uncomfortable. Did she ever feel that way before? Elijah hoped his actions and words wouldn't come off as harassment. He never wanted to cross that line, he thought with a sigh.

"Get a hold of yourself. Fuck." Elijah mumbled to himself as he ran his hand through his hair, feeling the sweat on his head slide down as he dragged his fingers to the ends of his tips.

From what he could draw from his dreams, Elijah was redeveloping a crush he had on Ira many years ago. He'd have to get it under control sooner rather than later, though, their relationship was still very complicated. He hadn't even apologized yet, which made him feel even worse for pinning Ira. Leaning over to reach into a bag, Elijah used the towel to dry off the remaining sweat from his head and face. He needed a cold shower.

After gathering what he needed, Elijah  headed to the locker room, where Ira had originally stolen clothes for him. It took him a couple of moments to decide where he wanted to settle, before placing his bag down and fishing out the things he needed. As he began to undress, he wondered if it was wise to return the clothes to the lost and found.  Before walking in the direction of the showers, he folded the items and placed them back in the box in case the owners would ever come back for them.

Elijah soon switched his focus and swung open one of the shower curtains. He stepped into the stall and turned the knob to cold.  His humming was followed by the sound of running water, as he began lathering his body with soap. It has been so long since he had a nice shower. Despite it being as cold as ice, he felt himself relax a bit, as though the shame from earlier had washed away.

After toweling off and dressing himself in the outfit he chose for the day, Elijah headed off to find Ira. He found her at her desk, looking as disheveled as ever.

"What's with the long face? Did you sleep at all?" Elijah ran his eyes across Ira's face, taking in the eyebags forming as an indication of insomnia.

"No. I've been trying to do all this 'paperwork' Officer McGregor assigned me." Ira tossed the scroll, letting it impact and  slide across her desk. "I don't even know if I can finish it soon."

"Why not?" Elijah questioned, opting to lean over Ira's shoulder to see what she had thrown.

"Just... Here, take a look." Ira reached for where the scroll had landed before handing it off to Elijah.

He pursed his lips as he gazed down at the item in his hand. Elijah let out a horrified gasp before he found himself gawking at Ira. The expression of shock was enough to cause Ira to wince and look away. Elijah couldn't believe what he saw. How could anyone be so cruel as to make Ira do paperwork on her own murder? He breathed out weakly, eventually leaning on Ira's desk for support. 

"You died?" He choked out.

"Yeah." Ira heaved a long-winded sigh.

"They're making you review and file away your own fucking death report? And, review reports of the man who killed you?" Elijah hadn't meant to raise his voice, but the anger was seeping out of him.

"Welcome to my life." Ira shrugged. "Initially, Brian wanted to keep it a secret between him and I. But, there are some things you can't hide forever... So, he assigned McGregor my file to write a report on. Obviously, he didn't want to write it himself."

Now staring at the magical parchment, Elijah flexed his free hand in rage.

"Have you eaten yet?" He decided a change of subject was needed, before he stormed off and wrangled Officer McGregor.

"No. You can probably guess why, but I did bring food for the day this morning before I visited you." Ira looked up at Elijah, thoughtfully. "Did you sleep well?

"Yes..." He sheepishly glanced away. "I'll go get your breakfast then, you need to eat something."

"Mhm, whatever you say, mom." Ira rolled her eye before setting her head down on her desk.

"I'll be right back." He left with the scroll in his hand.

As he headed to the breakroom, Elijah's mind played scenarios that could have happened the night of Ira's death. And, each time he thought of the tragedy, he considered the possibility of breaking into where they were holding the Night-Stalker and killing him. He had access to that kind of information, a glance at his hand told him that much. However, Elijah knew that if he attempted such an act successfully, he'd never gain the freedom he craved.

Yet, he could only focus on Ira's relief being masked behind a shroud of disappointment. Elijah knew enough about Ira's history to know how much safer she'd feel if one of her murderers had been dealt with. It wasn't the one who had taken away half of her face, but at least it was one Elijah could handle. As he stepped into the breakroom, Elijah allowed his mind to wander further on the topic of Ira's death. Did the scroll's database hold enough information about Ira's entire history? Would he finally have the answers she withheld years ago? And, was it really his place to go digging around in her past when she hadn't done the same with him, even though it was so accessible?

Frustrated at himself, he staked toward the icebox with the intent of digging out Ira's breakfast. He hadn't expected to be so possessive or pent up over one person. Elijah eventually chalked it up to residual feelings from this morning's dream. At that moment, he promised himself that he wasn't going to sabotage his life or alliance with Ira over irrational emotions. With a sigh, he dug deeper into the ice box, only to find an empty breakfast container with Ira's name on it.

"Fucking bastard!" He half-screamed, tossing the empty container into the trash.

Elijah guided himself over to the self-refilling coffee pot, silently cursing whoever kept stealing Ira's food. Coffee would have to do for now, he thought to himself. He'd have to find another way to get food into Ira's system. Mentally, he plotted his revenge on the bastard who decided to add more problems to Ira's plate, as he finished filling a cup. God, he was a mess. How many people would he need to plot revenge on because of her? Something carnal and deep inside of him growled with the need to protect Ira, despite knowing she could handle herself.

"You know you're mumbling, right?" An unfamiliar voice drew him out of his thoughts.

"Excuse me?" Elijah locked his gaze with an unfamiliar, stout, dark-skinned woman.

"My advice, if you want to get revenge,  is to make sure they never want to eat Ira's food ever again." The woman replied, stepping around Elijah to grab something from the ice box.

"How did you know I was talking about the detective?" Elijah felt his face warm.

"Detective?" The woman raised a questioning eyebrow. "She's not... Well, in any case, you said her name out loud. And, I'm just trying to help out."

Elijah quirked a curious eyebrow. A quick glance at the woman drew his attention to a ring on her ring finger. A visible smirk grew on his face when an insult came to mind, one that would surely get her to leave him alone.

"You know what you should do? Go talk your husband's ear off instead of mine." Elijah suggested.

"I think you mean wife," Lisa corrected, "who you're acquainted with."

'I am?' Elijah thought to himself, suddenly.

"You must be mistaken." He said out loud, instead.

"I'm not. There's only two people that I know of who fret over Ira Lagear."

"Oh." Elijah blinked at her.

"And, I'm hoping one of these influences is a good one." Lisa eyed the pot of coffee in Elijah's hands.

"No promises." Elijah paused. "You work here, correct?"

"Yes." Lisa met Elijah's mischievous gaze with a glare.

"So you know how to use this?" He handed her the scroll.

"Where did you get that?" Lisa broke eye contact to examine the magical item in her hands.

"From Lagear, of course," Elijah waved the coffee cup in the air for emphasis, "And, I thought I'd do her a favor by completing her work. My problem is, I'm not sure how to look at someone's file, mark things as up to date, or write a full report on it."

"How very kind of you." Lisa said, offering a knowing smile.

"It's just work." If blush could be visible on Elijah's dark skin, it would be showing right now. Instead, his animal-like ears twitched with embarrassment.

"Still, I'm sure she'll appreciate this and the coffee." Lisa said after a moment's thought. "So, the easiest way to find a person's file is by their number. Everyone in the system is assigned a three digit code-"

"What if I don't know their number or they aren't in the system yet?" Elijah questioned.

"Well, if they don't have a number, you'll have to register them in the system. But, if you have a name, you can probably find them easily in our database. We have file access to every documented citizen living in this district. And, if it's someone already in our system, a name will be enough to give you the results you need." She explained.

"Good to know. So how do I start a report?" Elijah set the coffee down to focus on this impromptu lesson.

"First, you need to select any other files related to the case, and once you're ready to start, you'll swipe up on the scroll to write the report." Lisa pointed out, demonstrating for Elijah to see by using her own personal code.

"Hm. I can manage this." He nodded to himself. 

Lisa waited patiently for a thank you, but when she realized one wouldn't come, she sighed.

"I'll be taking that," Elijah said, snatching the scroll from the Lieutenant's hand. "It was surprisingly nice talking to you, I'll be off now."

"Bye, then." Elijah twirled the scroll in his hand, completely forgetting about the coffee as he skipped towards the door. "I'll let your wife know you said, hi!"

"What? Why are you going to see my-"

"Bye!" He ran off in the direction of Jordan's office.

Without even announcing himself, he sauntered right in with a kick to the door. His lips twisted in a smile as he watched Jordan practically leap out of her desk chair, startled. Ink splattered across the autopsy reports she'd been working on. Her eyes widened at the sight before she sent the spilled ink back into the bottle with a flick of her wrist. When a frown appeared on Jordan's face, Elijah stepped closer.

"Elijah, what brings you here, is everything alright with-"

"How soon is your break, how long is it, and can you leave the building during that period of time?" Elijah slowly bent down to lean on the desk with his elbows, arms crossed.

"Soon, an hour long, and yes, I can. But, hold your horses, what is this about?" Jordan asked, looking more amused rather than annoyed.

"I'm doing Lagear a favor." With a splay of fingers now sliding across the wood surface, Elijah brushed aside the reports Jordan had been working on.  

"Wow, she really domesticated you. I don't know how she does it." Jordan looked at Elijah and attempted to hide her delight.

"Excuse me?" Elijah narrowed his eyes.

"Oh, nothing. What do you need for the favor?" Jordan asked while setting down the quill in her hand. 

"Can you find me the spiciest pepper there is on the market?" Elijah  turned over the reports on Jordan's desk, skimming the writing as he continued to speak. "It has to be in powdered or crushed form."

"Sure? I don't see how this is a favor for Ira, though." Jordan questioned, curiously.

"Hm, you'll know soon enough. Oh, and if you could, please get it soon?"

"Hey, I didn't say I was going-"

"Bye! I met your wife, by the way, she said 'Hi'." Elijah waved goodbye.

Perplexed, Jordan shrugged and got back to work.

When he returned, the scene Elijah was met with brought a soft smile to his face. He felt his heart fill with affection when he saw Ira's head resting on her forearm, fast asleep at her desk. He noticed how exhausted she appeared earlier, and it was only a matter of time before she lost the battle of staying awake. He watched her for a moment, a fond look in his eye, before he retrieved Ira's jacket from the coat rack and laid it over her like a blanket. Elijah took in her sleeping form for a bit longer, noting every detail of her scar that stretched across her face and down her neck.

He couldn't help but sigh at the sight of her, looking so peaceful and vulnerable in her sleep. For a moment, Elijah wondered if this was how she felt watching him last night. The memory of her touch ghosted across Elijah's skin, and his mouth went dry. He fought his mind to stop that train of thought upon realizing how inappropriate he was being. Who watches their co-workers sleep? Deciding to let her rest for a little while longer, he fell into a confident stride towards the breakroom to complete the work by himself.

By the time he got settled in a seat near the back of the room, Elijah was anxious. Was he ready to stomach reading through Ira's information? Despite this, he knew that he'd already gone too far to go back now. Elijah nodded to himself, and typed in Ira's name into the scroll. Immediately, her file popped up, along with her code number. There were a few things that stood out to him, one of which was the massive amount of missing information during Ira's early twenties. It appeared as though she disappeared, but reappeared in recent times.

The second item that stood out to him were Ira's known, listed connections, accompanied by their short descriptions. Within two minutes, Elijah had read through the one that interested him the most. He winced at himself upon finally regaining his self control while  his eyes fell back on the name, Teagan. She was an ex-informant and ex-girlfriend of Ira Lagear just a few years prior. His body unconsciously curled in on itself. He tried not to dwell on the fact that there was someone else who had brought Ira great happiness and who also took that away from her.

Jealousy did not sit comfortably in Elijah's stomach as he slapped some sense into himself. He gave the scroll a tight squeeze as he added the Night-Stalker to the roster to begin the report. A deep seated sense of dread washed over him as he began typing. Elijah felt like he was going to be sick,

~'The Night-Stalker was a serial killer who arrived in the district only four months ago. He earned the name, Night-Stalker, after his choice of murdering his victims at the stroke of midnight and proclaiming himself to be the god of the night. His method of murder involved transforming into a cloud of deadly smoke to overwhelm and suffocate his victims to death. Typically, the Night-Stalker would then use his victims bodies and souls as puppets, however his last victim, Ira Ann Lagear (Gender: Woman, Age: 26, Height: 5'9, Weight: 125lbs) did not seem to be afflicted by his magic. She appears not to have suffered from the Night-Stalker's attack. Although, upon extracting her corpse from his base of operations, one of the medicinal officers under Brian's unit confirmed that she was dead on site.'~

Eventually, time slipped by fast, interrupted by the occasional conversation as officers came for food or drink. Elijah set down the scroll and rubbed his eyes. He was halfway through the report, but he needed a break, and what better time to spend it than in a room designed for such an occasion? Elijah stood up from his chair and stretched. He directed his gaze to the icebox as a sinister smile spread across his cheeks. Elijah peered inside, looking at the only jug of milk with an amused expression. After all, Ira always drank her coffee black, so what was the point of keeping it? The other officers could survive a day without milk for their coffee.

Smirking evilly, he opened the jug and dumped the contents into the sink. Wasting food and drink wasn't on Elijah's list of wrongdoings, but it was for the greater good, he thought to himself.  Or, maybe it was out of pure selfishness on his end. Part of him was doing this as revenge for Ira, but the other half desperately wanted to see an officer suffer. Satisfied with his work, he placed the empty jug back into the icebox. Elijah's plan was finally in place.  Now it was time to wait.