Chance and Reason

Chapter Twenty-Two

A/N: It's a double update to make up for my absence! Please vote and comment, it would make my 2017! 

When Lauren drove Camila and Dinah back to Camila's home that afternoon, they arrived to find vile graffiti covering her apartment block, and yet another smashed window. Somebody had even taken a knife to the recently installed CCTV cameras, slashing the wires and breaking the lens.

This incident quickly pushed Lauren to suggest that Camila packed a bag and moved into her own apartment on a slightly more permanent basis.

"It will be safer there," she had justified, and Camila had not argued. She moved in that evening.

While the attacks still looked like mindless vandalism, Lauren and Officer Mendes were privately far more concerned about them than they let on.

"It's not like the work of some angry protester," Shawn commented over the phone one night, "There's not a scrap of evidence to be collected anywhere and not a witness in sight,"

"Like a professional job?" Lauren had asked.

Shawn had neither confirmed or denied whether he shared those suspicions, but the worry was evident.

Time passed, and despite the turbulent days for both women, home life for Lauren and Camila was turning out to be nothing short of perfect. The second the front door was closed; their own private bubble was sealed. With each passing day, Lauren found herself able to open up and relax more and more around the young journalist, and they grew almost inseparable. Their evening talks invariably drifted on into the early hours, where they would eventually nod off, curled up together on the sofa, too tired to walk to their now shared bed.

Dinah came to visit on a daily basis, telling Camila that it was because she missed her, and jokingly whispering to Lauren that it was so she could keep an eye on her. Their group dynamic was fun and easy, and it gave Lauren thrills because she could settle so naturally into it all.

When the morning of the hearing dawned, Camila helped Lauren to pick out a smart suit, and then had her stand with arms outstretched in the centre of the living room so that she could give her a once over with the clothes brush.

"Is this necessary, Camz?" Lauren mumbled.

"Yes," Camila nodded firmly before pecking Lauren's lips, "You need to look your best,"

"Don't I already?" the agent managed to quip.

"You do," Camila chuckled, smoothing down Lauren's lapels and straightening her collar, "But attention to detail never hurt anybody,"

When they were done, they gathered their coats and headed to the car. On the route there, they picked up Dinah, who was in an unusually sincere mood. For once, Lauren thought that she might enjoy hearing some of Dinah's own brand of humour rather than just listening to the sombre silence.

"How long do you think it will take?" Camila asked her.

"Hard to tell," Lauren shrugged stiffly, clammy palms gripping the steering wheel hard, "They might just want to hear my personal statement or they might want to question me further,"

A car in front swerved into Lauren's lane and she slammed an angry fist onto the horn and swore loudly.

"It's okay," Camila promised her softly, placing a light hand on Lauren's upper arm, "Go easy, there's no rush,"

They made it to the police building at last and Lauren walked inside with Camila and Dinah trailing slightly behind her. Camila felt indescribably proud at how the agent kept her head up and shoulders back proudly even when a few passing members of staff sneered slightly when they saw her.