𝐍𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐎𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬↠The Rookie

𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓽𝔀𝓮𝓵𝓿𝓮

She looked down at her arm, the bruising already starting, Lawrence hadn't meant to, she'd had been out of
line, raising her voice when he'd only accidentally spilt a little bit of water on her blouse, she didn't mean to let a loud 'hey!' slip out, but she'd embarrassed him and herself, but she needs to learn she can't be like that anymore, especially if she wasn't him to stick around, she looked over to her other arm seeing the already formed bruise in a handprint on her left arm.

It began with a small push and pull here and there, and the comments only became more insulting and harsh until finally, it became physical, but it wasn't physical, he'd done everything right she'd done everything wrong, maybe not all women should be allowed in the courts, after all, what else could she really do besides get married and raise his children. A broken clock is right twice a day, and he wasn't a broken clock, but she was.

But she was wrong, wasn't she? She deserved everything she got, he said he was sorry afterwards, told her he'd go to therapy, that he loved her and begged for forgiveness, of course she forgave him after all he was the first man who'd ever made her feel special since Tim, and he did love her, if he didn't he'd have left long ago, she could change for him, she'd do anything for him.

But she was wrong wasn't she? She deserved everything she got, he said he was sorry afterwards, told her he'd go to therapy, that he loved her and begged for forgiveness, of course she forgave him after all he was the first man who'd ever made her feel special since Tim, and he did love her, if he didn't he'd have left long ago, she could change for him, she'd do anything for him.

He'd even got her roses once, it didn't matter if she preferred lilie's, it was still a great gesture.

"Aunty Tina?" Mikey spoke from his car seat, "Is that Uncle Tim's car?" He pointed to the familiar marked police car, with two very familiar people sat in it, Tim and Lucy.

She'd felt the car stop and her stomach twist in knots, Mikey was right, that was Tim, the last person in the world they needed to see. It wasn't just that she'd felt embarrassed about her bruises, but there was a lot more she wouldn't want Tim especially to see, she was wearing Lawrence's sweater, it was the last thing she wanted to be seen right now. As she was signalled to pull over her breathing sped up as she made sure her sleeve was pulled down.

She glanced to Mikey from the rear window making sure he wasn't looking, the last thing she needed was a kid blabbing about what was going on after all she was making it up, and Mikey was still a little bit too young to be able to understand what was truly going on, she was a little embarrassed that Mikey was asking to get out to say hi to Tim and Lucy despite being told to stay in the back, especially from the passenger seat, but Mikey's just a kid, he's curious.

A curious kid, Lawrence had been adamant that Mikey didn't see her bruises, he'd even went out of his way to drop Mikey off at her mothers whenever there was even an inkling of chance of seeing her in less than stellar condition, she'd been thankful for that, after all her nephew shouldn't be seeing her in such a disheveled state, there wasn't any reason why he should have to see her like this, there was a reason why he was raised by other people after all.

"Your license plates dirty," Tim said before looking into the car and noticing it was Florentina, a very natural looking Florentina, a very tired looking Florentina.

Her heart raced as his eyes met hers, the same eyes that made her heart skip a beat just a few months back. He looked different, he looked so much happier, and she'd missed that look, it was all she could do to not run out of her car and hug him, to not let him see how bad it was. Her breath caught as when his eyes traveled to the bruises peeking out from under the sweater, her arm specifically.