I N S E C U R I T Y

“I’m pretty invested in not being a small town statistic, but it just seems like fate’s got it out for me.” Pursing her lips, she gave the tall male a once over. “I’m trying to work out what your angle may be, like maybe you’ve got some kind of murder kink and you want to add a clump of curly blonde to your trophies or something.” Elsie couldn’t quite get the words out without cracking into a smile that she hid by turning and gathering her things, “If you scalp me, I’ll haunt you from the beyond.” Shoving her phone into her back pocket she faced him, “Where’re you parked?

He might have balked stark white had the smile that presented itself on her features hinted that perhaps she was joking, though he still felt a little unsettled all things considered; Alexis Hawthorne dead. But he’d been trained for uncomfortable situations, some more than others. “I’m really not all that into blondes.” He shrugged, it wasn’t a lie, “But for the record,” he added, the lower hem of his shirt lifted to show his badge, “Not quite my angle in the first place, just trying to make sure you get back into town okay.” And Danny would never be known for any kindness less than that. “Just around the corner. Your car should be okay here for a few hours.”

The chill of the wind had long since left Tess with minimal feeling in her face and she was barely aware that she was chewing on her bottom lip. She was somehow soothed by watching the waves and so had been standing here for well over an hour, just looking at the water. For once her brain was quiet and she wasn’t being reminded of the past events which had left her with numerous mental scars. She tightly gripped her jacket as she tried to regain her focus on the waves.

“I was a little worried that you were drinking a whole pint of vodka,” Dakota said, settling into her seat and ordering a vodka cranberry. “I haven’t prepped for an intervention in a long time, but I was willing to pull my notes up on my phone for you.” He seemed hesitant, but she was willing to disguise her own– she had carved out this evening for a purpose, conversation was her goal. “Is there a reason you came to a bar to drink water?”

“I’ve never really aimed for straight up alcohol poisoning on any given night, but I’ll have to keep it in mind.” He chuckled softly despite the weight of his shoulder making it a little difficult to do so. “You have notes for an intervention on your phone?” Wide eyed, he turned to face her, he’d always been taught that it was rude not to. “I uh..-- not really? Seemed better to come here and drink water than go home to do it. Call it a social step for man-kind. I’m bringing back the trend of hydrating in bars.”

“I appreciate that you won’t jump over the balcony just to avoid me, that’s guts.” Not that Danny would ever fall within the realm of how other men behaved, but she would be a fool to not acknowledge that things were more than a little awkward between them all things considered. They were meant to remain friends and yet each time the pair of former lovers encountered one another, a stinging sensation echoed in her chest and she felt like more of a disappointment than before… And it was all her fault. “Well I used to think it was to avoid the world, but then I realized you just prefer when people aren’t looking at you— which makes sense. I also hate when people look at me, but that’s usually ‘cause I’ve got somethin’ caught in my hair. How’s Callie by the way? I miss her.” A light chuckle fell from parted lips as she tilted her features back to spot whatever stars hadn’t been drowned out by the lights of Westbrook. “One day you won’t beat yourself up for speaking your mind, Danny. One day.” Shrugging, she replied rather simply though mild inebriation meant it was the absolutely wrong response. “This is me takin’ it easy.” In all honesty, she had done far worse in the last forty-eight hours. “Yeah, part of the job…” Her smile faltered a bit at the words he chose and Shay cleared her throat before rebounding just as quickly with masking humor. “S’pose I should thank you for your service to the greater community, especially since half your boys and gals are downstairs hammered. You’re the only one still holding down the fort.”

“I bet she asks the dog if she wants extra syrup and you don’t get any sugar.” Lucien’s laugh was infectious, it felt unwelcome in the halls of the police station, drawing glares from those whom they passed before he shoved the door open, stepping outside. “Who says I won’t like that?” The blonde countered, walking backwards with his brows wiggling. “What about Chinese then? I could do beef and broccoli right about now.” His own stomach was snarling; he’d skipped breakfast that morning and now as the minutes inched towards lunch he was ready to consume more than his share at a table. “You could do with something green.” Lu nodded, “I think he loves it, I don’t have the heart to tell him that it’s terrible.” He sighed,  “I’ve gotta get my own car.”

“The worse kept secret this place has? Everyone loves Callie more than they do me. It’s a known fact.” Danny chuckled softly, happy enough to be getting out of the office with good reason, and with someone he knew wouldn’t let him slink right back to it on his own. “Okay keep your depravity to yourself, Callahan. I don’t wanna know.” He shook his head, because for whatever reason he could never really get on board with that kind of conversation with the majority of people. “I’m down, but only if we get those little cracker things.” He balked with mock offense and raised an index finger as if he were about to put Lu in his place. “There is lettuce on every burger I eat, I make sure of it. Someone should see about getting the heart to tell him soon. You had a look for anything?”

@dxmenzel

Katrina leaned back against the wall, eying the tall, freckled male fumble with what she was certain was his fourth cup of coffee. The cafe was bustling, and it was with jerky, zombie like motions that he shovelled sugar into the beverage, returning to his seat by the window. Her own hands curved around a mocha and she sipped at the beverage while a barrage of texts to Cal confirmed that she was definitely looking at Danny. Painted lips curved into a grin and she approached his table, pocketing her phone after reading the last message on the screen.

 < Kat what are you doing ??? >

Ignoring the blitz of her mobile, she tapped the back of the empty chair beside him. “Is anyone sitting here?”

He didn’t hear anything at all, Danny had long since learnt to block everything else out when he needed to, and while he tapped away at the laptop in front of him, decoding a website encryption, he curled his fingers momentarily to void the slight shake in them as he reached for his now lukewarm cup of coffee; black no sugar. The sound of tapping nearby didn’t register until it went on far too long to simply be nothing at all. Looking up, an unruly lock of his own hair dropped into his eyes and he shook it back. “What?” He blinked, “Sitting -- Oh, yeah no.. I mean, nobody is sitting there. I can uh..-- I can move if you need the table I think I’ve been here..---” He checked his watch, “Three hours too long.” Dragging fingers through his hair, he dropped back into his seat a little more, slouched slightly and blinking at the screen before closing his laptop. 

A half burned cigarette dangled from one hand, the blonde lazily tapping it every few moments, the ash dropping precariously into the void between her car seat and curb. It was a brisk day, but she still sat with the car door open, each exhale catching on the cold air and blossoming. Catching the attention of a passer by, she perked up. “My tire blew out,” Elsie explained, digging her phone out to show her potential saviour the black screen, before tossing it onto the dash, “And like the beginning of any good horror movie, my phone’s dead as fuck.”

“And like any good horror movie, this really isn’t a good time to be out here on your own.” Though none of them were certain that they had any kind of serial killer on the loose -- they did have a murderer, and for what it was worth, it didn’t make Westbrook all that safe for anyone on their own. “Come on, I’ll give you a ride into town, we’ll call a tow and get her to the shop so you can sort a new tire in the morning.”

“Hey, I show her off whenever I get the chance. The woman that runs that diner near my place, Sandy? She loves her so much Callie gets her own plate of five am pancakes whenever we swing by.” Most people recognized his dog well before they did him, and he was mostly okay with it. “Just to fuck with you i’ll forget all about the pint and make you really suffer. But you know, since you mentioned cuddling, I hear the deputy they just sent us from Atlanta really loves a cuddle or two, maybe I’ll have him shuffle up and be the big spoon instead of me this time. Scare a little sense into you.” Following without complaint, Danny only now realized how much his stomach protested against his hunger. “Anything but burgers, I think I’ve eaten my weight in them the last four days alone.” He paused and rolled his eyes as if it weren’t the most likely thing for Lu to do. “He still driving around in that matchbox? I thought we all grew out of that hot wheels phase. I’m parked down to the right.”

Dark things loved harsh words;  Dakota was attracted to tragedy like a moth was to a flame, she fluttered with singed wings. She didn’t look ethereal in any way, perhaps she suited the low light and the glow under the bar, the sort of place that brought out the sallow tones in your skin. This was the kind of place that your demons loved, they played on the felt of the pool tables, lounging between the rings that condensation had pressed into the wood of the bar. The bar keep looked like he would have rather taken an early night instead of this shift and she slid into an open stool, peering over her shoulder and lifting her fingers in greeting to the body haunting the seat beside her. Her voice was the crushed tone of velvet, each syllable was reluctant and shy when she pronounced it. “What are you drinking?”

For the better part, Danny could quite easily quell the distinct illusion of feeling dirty after working long hours within the confines of a room that had become his niche well before he’d ever graduated from the academy. People he knew made it easier, but not always.. Sometimes nothing helped. Forced into the darker refines of Westbrook to simply find a reminder of why he did what he did as if it might have been the easiest thing in the world. The small voice beside him pulled him from thoughts and he looked down at the near empty glass. “Oh..-- I’m uh, this is just water.”

“Planning to slip away before the magic hour? You’re a lot of things, Danny boy, but smart is still right up there at number one.” Only a fool pretended not to know what annual traditions occurred once the clock struck midnight. For someone like Daniel Menzel, whose handsome features were outweighed only by his startling lack of proficiency with flirting, she knew that he would probably rather jump than have to find a partner to lock lips with in the new year. “Inanimate objects are nice that way. No talking, no expectations…” Her voice faded with the train of thought, her mind still a bit hazy thanks to the amount of bubbly consumed over the past hour. Once upon a time she might have only taken a single glass, but transformation and the long standing influence of a dead girl meant three or four were ingested before she found him. Now bronze skin barely even prickled at the chilly January air. “Thanks,” she leaned against the balcony, careful to maintain somewhat of a distance between them despite how unnatural it felt. “Don’t trust the champagne trays, by the way. They just keep comin’ whether you’re ready or not.” Shooting him a signature smile filled with effortless jiving, the brunette eventually returned her gaze to the outside world. “Thanks again for walking me home the other night. You really didn’t have to do that.”

@dxmenzel

“Alright,” Lucien said as he filtered into Danny’s office, reaching to tug the other man up from under his arms. “It’s 11:59 am and you’re officially on lunch.” In the short while that he had been back in Westbrook, it seemed that the other man had managed to keep himself plastered to work, avoiding anything and everyone. He stepped back around the desk, grabbing up Danny’s coat. “Come on, I’m buying.” Lu looked over his shoulder, “Don’t make me unplug the computer, you need some fresh air or something. This place smells like a kennel.”

Even as he was tugged to his feet, Danny scrambled to reach out to close out of the encryption he’d been working through as if he might have lost something otherwise. “Alright alright alright, you’re fifteen minutes early though.” 12:15 was usually how long it took before anyone dragged him out of his office, a thing both his friends and those in the precinct did for his own sanity every so often, otherwise left to his own devices, Danny would likely stay locked up in there for days on end. With Alexis’ case still mostly unsolved, he’d resorted to going back through all the footage from the train. “You unplug the computer and I’m not even slightly against throwing you in a cell for the night.” He was, but the laugh that sounded with his empty threat held enough humor. “--- Does it? Callie had a bath yesterday.. maybe I’ll crack a window.” A sharp whistle and the german shepherd followed them out of the office. 

@dxmenzel

Hair wet with sweat framed her face as she hastily pushed away the shorten curls that escaped her ponytail. Cheeks reddened with activity as her knuckles continued to meet the bag in front of her, it barely swinging from her impacted. The irritability of her skin rubbing against the leather with each strike was testing her patience. Practicing alone hadn’t improved her stance or her movements, she felt as weak as the first day she had unwillingly paid for the gym membership in hope of strengthening her self-defense. It was a day that rolled on with the frustrations and the lack of progress, feelings of failure boiled on. It was a thoughtless action as her fist landed against the bag in a heated outburst, thumb curled under fingers incorrectly causing a shock of pain to travel up her arm. A loud groan escaped as she shook out her hand, the pain only adding to anger as her foot contacted the bag in frustration. Thoughts filled with curses as her thumb throbbed. Eyes snapped upwards catching another’s, “What are you looking at?” The pain seemed follow as the words traveled off her tongue, a cold glare. “You got a problem?”

“Do..-- Do I have a problem?” He must have been staring, he always hated when it seemed as such. The sharp words of the woman seemingly throwing him off guard a little as he looked towards the ground, adjusting the wraps around his hands as if there’d been something wrong with them; though he knew there wasn’t. “No.. No, I mean, I don’t. But you might soon..---” He said almost cautiously. He didn’t want her to hurt herself, and by the looks of things, she was headed right for a broken thumb and a displaced knuckle, neither of which would be all too helpful with someone that held that kind of rage. “You’re gonna’ hurt yourself if you keep it up like that.”

@dxmenzel

Rosy cheeks had always been Callisto’s give away; it hadn’t been long for a glass of wine to be washed down by another beer that the Callahan’s graciously offered. She lost no pride in admitting it was one of her favorite things about gatherings thrown by the wealthy. The slight glaze of intoxication only uplifted her feelings of the New Year; a smile seemed to be permanently painted on her lips as she moved from group to group. After all, it’d been an amazing year to reflect upon. She spent a majority of her time exploring, one of the few goals she always reached to achieve and there was a mystical quality about the memories she made along the way. The reflection only interrupted upon her eyes focusing across the hall. His image had become so familiar, burned into her mind, she was sure she’d recognize him among strangers in the dark. The fall of his shoulders, the curl of his hair, even as a silhouette in the dark. There was an irony in the fact that Danny constantly invaded her thoughts arbitrarily, but each time he made a physical appearance, surprise swirled. Her breath would catch, as if he presence were an unexpected revelation. She imagined those feelings would never leave; but the warmth of her cheeks and the energy of the night split her smile into a wider grin. “Danny!” The courage he so easily stole away remained anchored by the wine in her system. Her secret swept away in the moment. She reached on her toes to kiss his cheek thoughtlessly; a greeting reserved only for times like these. “Happy new year, Menzel!”

Danny was sure by now it might have just looked strange that he was there, a drink or two in while everyone else was well on their way to being absolutely plastered, a state he did not want to be on like a night like this. Given he wasn’t all that into drinking anyway, he might have still let himself drink a little more had a local girl not gone missing, or turned up dead at the last two town events. Third time lucky, or cursed, he wasn’t sure which one he expected. Nevertheless, his name on her lips rocked him to his very core, as if the excitement in her voice might not have been spurred on by intoxication, though he knew better. “Hey Callie,” he choked out through a laugh and a tidal wave of near shock as she pressed lips to his cheek. “Happier for you than me apparently, you feelin’ alright?” 

You could visit a place thousands of times and be awed by its size, but immense get togethers always had a way of strangling that space; choking out the freedom of it all and shrinking rooms until they began to suffocate you as well. Shay enjoyed a good party as much as the next person, but sometimes she just needed to pause and allow slightly blurred thoughts to progress without interruption. As she closed herself into one of the halls, effectively muffling the chattering voices beyond, it became readily apparent that she wasn’t actually alone. 

                Danny. 

“Didn’t anybody tell you the party’s that way?” Nodding her curls towards the very door through which she’d just come, Shay offered him a disarming smirk. “I know you’re used to being locked up in the precinct basement, but there’s actual people not on screens out there.” Some of it was a bit effortless, sliding back into her affectionate taunting which could either bewilder him or force a blush, and some of it— standing alone with him, feeling the miles of separation between them that she’d caused… Some of it was a bit more difficult to stomach. “But actually, if you were trying to be alone then I can just go.” @dxmenzel