This Love

4. Kiss me

~BEATRICE ~

She was speeding.

Beatrice knew she shouldn't be. Not when she was in her own, personal car, and especially not without sirens blaring and lights flashing. She braked to a reluctant stop at a red light, sitting tensely while she waited for the green. It felt like there was a countdown ticking down and every second she wasted idling was a second closer to Ava getting hurt.

"I think he's outside..."

Beatrice stopped breathing. She rose slowly from the couch and teetered in the middle of her lounge. This couldn't be happening.

She didn't know how long she stood in shock for but Ava's terrified whisper snapped her out of it, "Bea...?"

Forcing herself to move, Beatrice marched towards her front door, grabbing her coat and keys from the kitchen bench as she went.

"Have you called the police?"

"I called you..."

Beatrice frowned, the police could get there way faster than she could, and had the equipment and facilities to deal with an unruly ex.

"Ava..."

"No police, Bea... please?" Ava's voice trembled, it was easy to tell she was crying, "I just want you."

At those last three words, she felt her face reddening, entirely flustered. Beatrice growled at herself to get it together.

"Alright, Ava, that's okay..." She would just need to get to her as fast as possible, "Stay right where you are, do not open the door, I'm coming as fast as I can."

Finally, the light went green, and Beatrice's poor car roared as she pushed the accelerator to the floor. Adrenaline was flowing thick and fast through her veins; it would be distracting if she wasn't so used to it.

In the academy they had been trained to compartmentalize this kind of emotion, the icy fear and the heart-pounding exhilaration, to shut themselves away from it. But Beatrice's favorite mentor, the recently promoted Captain Shannon Masters had told her one night after a particularly harrowing call that adrenaline wasn't to be treated as the enemy but rather a partner, something to keep you sharp in the midst of a dangerous situation.

But this isn't work...

Beatrice's jaw twitched as she turned down Ava's street. She had no uniform, no backup, no nothing... Hell, in her rush to leave she hadn't even changed out of her 'I'm sh-eepy' pajama pants. All she had was a random set of handcuffs and her badge. Beatrice was going entirely against her training doing this, but she couldn't say no to Ava, not when she needed her.

Pulling up outside the florist's colorful hanging sign, the first thing Beatrice noticed was the navy-blue SUV parked a little ahead of her. It wasn't the car that JC had been driving the night they'd been called here, but that didn't mean it wasn't his.

Stepping out onto the curb, Beatrice's eyes swept the street and the outward appearance of Ava's apartment with a well-trained scrutiny. All was quiet, calm, a typical late Sunday evening.

She made her way around her car and took a few quick steps over to the blue SUV, peering into the windows. There was nothing about the vehicle that pointed to it being owned by JC, or a male at all. She jogged up the garden path to the florist and fished her phone out of her pocket. Beatrice would call Ava and only if she didn't answer would she knock. She didn't want to add to Ava's terror by making her think she was JC knocking at her door, and she also didn't want to give herself away if JC was already inside.