Estranged [Completed]

Farewell

Even agonizing over every word she put in her report, Kalei still made it home well before two o'clock. She was grateful because it gave her a chance to talk to Fenn before the girls arrived. She still didn't know how she was going to tell him... but she knew there was no way out of it. She had to tell him.

She pulled her car into the garage and pulled the keys out of the ignition. She stared at the dashboard, still trying to find the words to explain what had happened. Would he be mad? 

I mean, I know this is Fenn we are talking about, but how could he not be mad? 

Her screw-up had just dropped all financial responsibility on him, and there was no way they could pay for their house on just one income... But that was just it. She wasn't even sure that she was out of a job. "Indefinite" was very... undefined... Would her sergeant find some loophole and convince the captain to let her stay on? Would he want to? Kalei had to admit, she had been nothing but trouble for the department since she started... Then she remembered, the captain had said that the people were involved now... did that mean that the press caught wind of the incident? What if the commissioner became involved? What if the mayor stepped in? The thought made Kalei sick...

Kalei stared at the white numbers of her speedometer, the pale simplicity of the font a sharp contrast to the grim possibilities swarming her mind. But the worst thought of all was the realization that she had probably blown any chance she had at becoming a Warden. Even with her high academy scores and her zealous determination, all of her applications to SWORDE had been rejected. And now... there was no point in trying anymore. There was no way they were going to admit her now... She would have to find a way that didn't involve SWORDE. There had to be a way for her to—

The door from the garage to the house opened. She looked up to see Fenn in the doorway, his soft brown eyes shining with concern as they found her. He was absolutely perfect in her eyes, a lean, not-too-muscled figure, with a strong, straight nose that didn't quite fit his soft mouth. He opened that mouth to say, "Kalei?"

Kalei clenched her jaw and forced herself to open the door. She wasn't ready to leave the shelter of the car just yet, but she had to face the music. She climbed out just as Fenn came around, and, without thinking, she wrapped her arms around his body, her head burrowing into his shoulder. She didn't realize she was crying until she heard him whispering in her ear, "There, there. It's all right... it's all right..."

When her tears slowed, he pulled back and looked her up and down. "Are you okay? Are you hurt at all? What happened, honey?"

Kalei said, "Let's go to the kitchen. I need some water."

When they were settled at the dining room table, Kalei told Fenn about the event at the store, and what had happened with the captain. At the end, she said, "And the worst part is, the boy would have been fine if I hadn't gone in. SWORDE arrived right after we did. Sure, the kid would have been a bit worse for wear, losing a couple more ounces of blood, but he still would have been fine. I've screwed everything up for nothing."

Fenn held her hands and looked into her eyes. "It wasn't for nothing, Kalei. You had no way of knowing that SWORDE was going to get there so fast. You did the right thing. Don't doubt that."

Kalei looked at the tiles on the floor and said, "Yeah, but..."

"No buts about it, Kalei. Stop beating yourself up over this. So what if you lose your job? We'll be fine. I've picked up some new clients, we still have the savings account if it comes to it, but I don't think it will. I was watching the news after I called you. The mom has already showed up on every station, going on about a heroic police officer who came in and saved her son. The stations are eating it up, using it to prime their audiences for the E-day specials. There's no way the mayor could fire you after that. It would be bad for his election."