FULL CIRCLE

Curious Discoveries

Lauren walked through the hospital ignoring the panic welling inside herself. She hadn't been back since the birth of her daughter, and for good reason.

Even looking at the pale walls made her want to run screaming.

She looked at the art on the wall and almost snorted at the idiotic pieces. Like anyone was really soothed by that hung all around her. No one cared about the decorum, because it didn't change the circumstances of them being there. Somewhere in this very hospital, people were suffering, dying, possibly being treated for an illness that may never really go away. No, art of smiling children's faces did not take away the pain and blood that walked through these halls.

Making her way to the reception area, she signed in and was directed towards Demi's room.

Walking inside, she saw Dinah sleeping restlessly on the chair next to Demi, a box of files next her. Lauren could see the exhaustion in her best friends face, and the sight made her smile softly.

The smile was quickly wiped off her face, when she saw the horrible condition her mother was in. Her face was almost unrecognizable due to the gauze and bandages wrapping around her face and head. Her eyes pricked at the sight of the woman she loved as a mother, and the anger that she had developing inside her since she heard of the attack was growing to a dangerous level.

She carefully bent forward, giving her mother a kiss on the forehead before turning around and grabbing the box of files from the chair next to her friend.

Choosing the chair on the other side of the bed, Lauren sat down and opened her briefcase grabbing a legal pad to make notes on.

For the next couple of hours, Lauren sat there making notes, not noticing when Normani had come in to check Demi's vitals.

"Hey girl." Normani whispered, not wanting to wake Dinah from her much needed slumber.

Lauren jumped in place, not having noticed her friend enter the room, having been concentrating on the work in front of her.

"You scared the shit out of me Mani!" Lauren whisper shouted, clutching her chest in a attempt to calm herself.

Normani shrugged apologetically, before walking over and giving her best friend a tight hug. "It's good to see you Lo.... Sucks that you finally came home under these circumstances, but I'm glad you're here."

Lauren hugged her back tightly, nodding in agreement. Despite all the painful memories, it was good to be home.

When Normani walked over and started checking Demi over, Lauren motioned towards Demi asking,"How's she doing?"

Normani looked over Demi's chart, marking things off as she said,"She's doing good. Stable, swelling has really gone down from when they first brought her in so that's promising. She still has a long way to go before we can count her out of the woods though. Head injuries are serious, and we won't know the extent of the damage until she wakes up."

Lauren nodded heartbroken for her poor mother.

"Has she been asleep the whole time you've been here?" asked Normani curiously, gesturing towards their sleeping friend, giving a Dinah a fond smile.

Lauren chuckled lowly, giving Normani a knowing look when replied,"She's been out for hours. I came after texting her to meet me here and she was completely knocked out. I'm assuming she's been hitting this case pretty hard."

Normani nodded saying,"She's been awake since the attack, so for about 52 hours. I'm glad she got some rest, she was ready to drop. Find anything useful yet?"

Lauren sighed in annoyance, shaking her head in dismay.

"Demi arrested a lot of people, but all these files are petty stuff, not really worth dredging up and assaulting a deputy chief. I feel like I'm missing something. There has to be more than this. She was a detective for a few years before she got promoted, so there has to be a lot more case files than this." Lauren rushed out, breathing hard in irritation.

"There are, but they weren't in her office." Dinah rasped out rubbing her eyes as she woke up. Leaning up from the slouch she had been in for hours, she cracked her sore neck, making Normani wince and Lauren smile.

"It's good to see you Ralph. If I wasn't so beat, I'd be over there hugging the hell out of you, so just imagine that I'm hugging you tight as hell." Dinah yawned rubbing her face tiredly.

Lauren chuckled saying,"No worries DJ I forgive you."

"I'm off in about twenty minutes if you guys want to take this party out of here and get some food." Normani suggested, filling out the last of Demi's check list.

Lauren stretched, as she got up from her chair, saying,"I'll call Rose and tell her we're picking up some Chinese. I have a feeling we'll be working into the night going through these files."

"We're also going to ransack your parent's house, because Demi had to have hidden the missing files somewhere." Dinah suggested, getting up from her chair.

"I'll ask Rose and check her office. Meet you at mom's house in twenty?" asked Lauren gathering up the box and her briefcase.

"Sure. Might as well take Dinah with you, she's been going crazy trying to find the missing file at the precinct. Once she's onto something she's like a blood hound." Normani said giggling.

Dinah beamed at her friend in pride, taking the compliment for what it was. Lauren smiled at the two friends, happy to see the chemistry between them hadn't change, and if she was being honest, with the looks they were giving each other, she was sure romance was in their future. She wondered who would crack first.

Lauren and Dinah picked up Chinese food from Roses favorite restaurant, and after making cookies with Jesse for an hour, were now tearing up Demi's office to see if there was anything she may have hidden that she didn't want the public access to.

Coming up empty, Lauren slammed the Demi's desk in anger as she exclaimed,"I'm not finding a damn thing!"

Dinah huffed in agreement as she added,"Me either."

Lauren sat in Demi's chair looking around the room as she thought to herself out loud,"Maybe were looking at this wrong. If Demi wanted to hide something, she wouldn't hide it where it would be obvious. She'd hide it somewhere it would be either impossible to find, or too easy to overlook."

Dinah looked at her friend like she had lost brain cells, when her eyes caught a vent she could barely make out behind a book shelf.

"Help me with something Lo." Dinah said rushing to the bookshelf in excitement."

Lauren jumped out of the chair, heading towards the bookshelf, seeing Dinah wiggle it revealing a vent that had been completely covered.

"Why would she cover a vent? That defeats the purpose of them." Lauren mumbled curiously, helping Dinah move the bookshelf out of the way.

"Not if it isn't really a vent to begin with." Dinah snorted, pulling her car keys out as she bent over and wedged the vent open, revealing a safe that had been built into the wall.

"What the hell..." Lauren muttered.

"Why would Demi need this? What was she worried about...." Asked Dinah worried herself.

"I don't know but we have to see if we can get it open." Lauren said, getting on her knees to look at the type of safe it was. Deciding on trying a few combinations, she started with Roses birthday, then Jesse's than hers. Disappointed, she had a fleeting thought surface, and she decided to try it on a hunch.

The safe clicked open, and her heart clutched at the date she had entered.

"What was the combination?" asked Dinah mouth gaping in shock.

"The day Rose and Demi adopted me." Lauren blushed, smiling lightly.

Reaching inside, she saw a stack of files, but what made her heart freeze was the file labeled Cabello unsolved.

Flipping it open before Dinah could see the file, her eyes frantically took in the report. The more she read the more angry she became until she jumped to her feet, tracking down Rose before she tore the house apart.