On Sturdy Legs

Following Insanity

I was woken a few hours later by the ring of the home phone, however just because I was woken up didn't necessarily mean that I got up to get it. There was a beep of the answering machine and it went to voicemail. I couldn't hear if anyone did leave a message. I was about ready to go back to sleep--Tarq laid his head back on my leg so he could too--when the phone rang again and his head shot up to look at me.

"What now," I groaned.

It didn't seem like anyone else was planning on getting that. I saw that Izzy wasn't in her bed. I pushed the covers back and swung my legs over the side of the bed, still wearing the bra and panties that I had worn to the party in absence of the motivation to change into pajamas. I didn't bother to throw anything on and headed downstairs as fast as I could without tripping. Well, that wasn't entirely true: the not-cat decided to jump right in front of my foot--I guess I did trip on her, just didn't fall, so I technically did get to the phone without tripping.

"For the love of..." I began upon answering because anyone who decided to call at this hour deserves to be cursed at.

"Ari!" Someone shouted on the other end, right into my ear at a volume that I didn't appreciate. It took me a second to realize that it was Molly.

"Molly?" I repeated, where the hell was she? It was, I had to glance at the stovetop clock, four in the morning and not in a good way. "What?"

"You're home!" She exclaimed and added at a muffled but more normal volume to someone who was probably sitting next to her, "she's home." Then to me, "are you okay?"

"Yeah," I answered a little slowly, "I'm fine, why?

"How did you get home?" She asked, answering my question with a question.

"James gave me a ride," it was my intention to say that as casually as possible; however, I suspected that by mentioning James that sentence was ruined anyway.

"James who?" Molly asked. Of course, she knew what James I was talking about, she just wanted it to not be that James.

"James Fisher," I replied a little smugly, there was a dare in my voice for her to say anything about it. "Where are you?" I asked to change the subject.

Molly didn't say anything about that, instead she just answered me, "I'm at the police station."

"What happened?" I asked quickly, maybe Izzy didn't get a ride home with her friends, maybe she was there when the cops busted the party and needed a parent to pick her up.

"Just, please come," Molly said instead, "I'll tell the front desk to let you back."

"I'll be right there," I told her and hung up.

I took the stairs two at a time to get back to my room, I pulled on the first clothes that I happened to lay my hands on, that ended up being a pair of camouflage sweat pants with FORT HOOD down one leg and the long sleeve shirt that James had given me. I laced my shoes on quick and gave Tarq a quick kiss on the head before I ran out the front door and climbed into the car.

I got close to doubling the speed limit on a few stretches of road but it was too late for any other cars to be out and it seemed that all the police cars were off the road by then. When I parked in the lot of the station, I had to sit for a second to calm myself down before I could find it in me to get out of the car and go in. The man at the front desk seemed to recognize me instantly; he had a look on his face like he was seeing a ghost, that ghost being me for whatever reason.

"I'm.." I began to tell him but he already knew that.

"Ariadne Gallen," the officer finished for me. He had a look on his face like he was tempted to hug me. "Thank god you're here."