THE CRIMINAL FILES ~ Happily Never After

F I V E

/I'm peeling the skin off my face - cause I really hate being safe. The normals, they make me afraid. The crazies, they make me feel sane. I'm nuts, baby, I'm mad - the craziest friend that you've ever had. You think I'm psycho, you think I'm gone. Tell the psychiatrist something is wrong. Over the bend, entirely bonkers - you like me best when I'm off my rocker. Tell you a secret, I'm not alarmed. So what if I'm crazy? The best people are. All the best people are crazy, all the best people are... Where is my prescription? Doctor, doctor, please listen. My brain is scattered. You can be Alice, I'll be the Mad Hatter/ ~ Melanie Martinez {Mad Hatter}

Jackson's Perspective

"Do you have...four sevens and a ten?" I asked, looking up at Jessica from my five cards. She had five cards in her hand as well, and you could've cut the tension between us with a butter knife.

"I think I won," she shot back. "Again." I groaned, throwing my head back, and letting the cards crash to the table.

"Why do you always win?"

"It's a Romanian thing." She responded, getting up from the table and moving over to the coffee maker.

"Bullshit!" I replied. Her shoulders shook as if she was laughing.

Another groan, and I began to stare at the images of the crime scene. Kristen and May went over to Dean's Toy Factory to interview the guy who owned the store.

Lily and Owen went to go get the team lunch from Wendy's, and Landon and D were busy talking with the other cops in the precinct. Leaving Jess and I back here. Now, yes, we technically were supposed to be "analyzing" however, both of us get bored easily, so we decided to divert our thoughts temporarily - start fresh.

Owen and Lily came in with bags in each hand dropping them onto the table. "Food!" Jess exclaimed, instantly taking her bag, opening it and unwrapping her burger in point two seconds.

I unwrapped my burger, taking a bite of it. "So, anything new?" Jess and I looked at each other, then back to Lily. Jessica coughed, kicking me in the chin to say something. I smiled at Lily who gave me a sarcastic smile back.

"Leave them alone," Owen told her, handing Lily her salad.

Lily complied - slowly - and sat down in a chair, pouring the cranberry dressing onto her Strawberry Summer Salad or whatever it was called. "Why do you have to be a goody-two-shoes?" I asked annoyingly.

Lily looked up fro her fork that contained a bunch of green leaves, a chunk of strawberry, and a piece of chicken. "What do you mean, "goody-two-shoes"?"

I shook my head. "I mean, you get a salad, while everyone else gets burgers."

"Cause I don't want to die from my sugar and salt intake, but you can contain eating your burger if you want. It'll do us all a favor." I gritted my teeth. She smiled. Owen rolled his eyes.

"Hey!" He snapped Lily and I out of our almost fight trance. "I don't want to start having to babysit you two, so smarten up." He walked away, throwing the wrapper to his burger away. Stuffing his hands in his pockets, Owen walked away. We all watched him leave walk out the front door and into the outside world.

Lily slid back into her chair, biting her lip. "Do you think he'll be okay?" Jessica asked. Lily and her looked at me, hoping I had an answer. Of course they'd look to me. I was the one who new Owen the longest out of us three. But yet, I still did not have a tangible answer nor reason to give them.

"Honestly, I don't know. I've never seen Owen like this before," I said. Hoping that maybe, that gave them enough of an answer to tell them that even I had no clue what was going to happen.

To Owen. To Landon. To Kristen. To the rest of the team.

It was like watching a horror movie. You know what's going to happen in the beginning. The murders and plot set up the whole movie. The characters are introduced. They make poor, idiotic decisions - but in the end, you don't know who the killer is, you don't know who'll survive, or who'll die in the stages leading up to the end.

Everyone came to Vegas knowing they had a case. Knowing they had a job.

Just...no one knew how, exactly, we would be like after we went back home.

Owen's Perspective

I was walking along the side of the road, not even really caring where I was going.

I had contemplated going to one of the casino's or bars near me, but Kris would kick my ass if she found out I did any of those things while on the job.

So I stuck to walking.

Yes, it was boring. But it gave me a chance to clear my head, clear myself of anger and jealousy, but not of my feelings.

Kristen.... "Dammit!" I shouted, kicking a trash can with so much force, it fell to it's side and rolled away from me. I felt that I was going insane.

I heard my phone ring in my pocket, and with gritted teeth - I took it out and pressed the answer button. "Hello?"

"Owen! Oh my....thank god!"

"Who is this?" I asked.

"Owen, you need to come home right now! It's Dad." I instantly recognized her voice. It was Becky.

"Becky? Becky what's wrong?" She was crying on the other end of the line. I turned back to the way I came, walking towards the precinct. "Becky!"

"Dad," she whispered, "he's sick again." And after hearing that I felt a blow to my chest. "He's sick, Owen. And it's worse this time." My dad was sick ever since he got home from the war. He had liver cancer, and, though it came and left periodically, when it came back, it was always worse.

"Okay. I'll be there soon."

"Bye," Becky hung up the phone, leaving me to throw the doors open and hurtle into the room where everyone was now.

I began to pick up everything in the room that was mine, collecting a brown file while doing so. "Owen?" Jack asked. I ignored it, even after the constant questions of confusion from my team.

I walked out the door with the brown folder in my mouth, and my arms flailing in the air trying to hail a taxi. Kristen came up behind me, her hair falling in front of her face. "Owen? What's wrong?"

"It's my Dad," I added. Her jaw dropped, and she sighed.

"I-is he okay?"

"Yeah, yeah - from what I know. He's just," her eyes were looking into mine, and I knew there was no sense in lying. I sighed, turning my head towards the sky. I was trying to deny it. A wave of emotions flowing through. "I don't think he's okay. It's gotten worse." I mumbled. I felt as though my world was crashing down. But Kristen pressed her hand onto mine, and smiled. With her thumb she massaged my knuckles, and I felt calmer.

"Hey, he'll make it through. He's always been that way," she said. I smiled and looked down at our hands. Hers was still with mine, and I felt happier. "If you need to leave you can. Take as long as you want, Owen." She added.

I nodded, then looked back to her. Our eyes locked. My breathing stopped. I smiled. "Kris!" She turned back to the front of the precinct where Landon was. "The ME's done with the body. We can go take a look now!"

She nodded, then focused her attention back on me. Her hand went to the side of my face, trailing down the front of my chest. "Keep me informed. Please."

"Sure." She smiled, and hugged me. Her arms wrapped around my neck, pulling her closer to me. I couldn't help it, but I felt like smiling. My arms went around her body, embracing her in my warmth. I felt her smile against my chest, and I pressed my mouth to the top of her head. Letting go - although I instantly felt empty and cold - I finally hailed a taxi, got in, and told the man driving to drop me off by the hotel so I could collect my things, then to drop me off at the airport. Kris stood on the sidewalk, and through the rear-view mirror, I saw her hug herself, then head back into the precinct.