Stretching, I walk in the door after a long day at work. Even though Monday was boring, we got a case yesterday and it took a while. But we ended up getting another confession today. Now, it’s nine at night and I’m ready for bed.

“Hey babe,” I hear my boyfriend say as I drop my keys in the bowl on the counter. “There’s some leftover taco stuff in the fridge.” His arms wrap around my waist as he places a simple kiss on my lips, “We ran out of taco shells, but there are tortilla chips in the cabinet. I can make you a taco salad.”

Returning the kiss quickly, I nod, “That would be perfect. You mind if I jump in the shower?”

“Not at all.”

Pressing our mouths together another time, I hum.

We detached so that we can go our separate ways.

My shower doesn’t take too long. I just wanted to relax a little bit.

As I’m eating, I look over to my boyfriend, “I’m going to bed soon.”

“Want me to come with you?” he asks, looking up from his book.

I shrug, “If you want to. I’m just tired today. I’m not on call tonight so I should get a full night sleep. I’m going to take my contacts out and everything.”

He chuckles, “Don’t go crazy or anything.”

I take the last bite of my food, chewing and swallowing, before pressing my lips to his. Standing, I take my bowl over to the sink to wash it out.

“Leave it there, babe,” Henry says from the living room. “I’ll wash it before I come to bed. I just want to finish this chapter.”

“Night, babe,” I tell him as I make my way to get ready to sleep.

-----

I suddenly wake in the middle of the night to the shrill of my cell phone. I try to look at the screen, but realize I took my contacts out and can’t see a damn thing. I put my finger on the blurry green splotch hoping that it’s the answer button.

Apparently, I hit it because it stops ringing as I put it to my face, “Hello?”

I hear Henry moan next to me as he scoots closer, wraps his arms around my torso, and places his head on my chest.

“Ashton, we need you down here,” is the answer I get.

“Who is this?” I ask as I wipe the back of my hand against my eyes.

There’s a sigh and then, “It’s Duke. Captain told me to call you and get you down here.”

“I don’t believe you,” I tell blatantly.

But as soon as I go to hang up, I hear him say, “Listen. I wouldn’t believe me if I were you, but I’m not lying.”

“Why did Captain want you to call me?”

“I was on call tonight,” he explains. “Got called in about an hour ago. When I got here I found something and called Captain. He told me to call you and Sanders to get you down here. Would have called you himself, but he’s on his way too. My partner couldn’t call you because he’s up to his elbows in bystanders. And Captain says to keep it in the department as much as possible. If you don’t believe me that’s fine, but it’s your job.”

As he talks, I put my hand out to find my glasses. Once they’re perched on my face, I look at the clock, “It’s three in the morning.”

“You’re telling me,” he huffs.

“And this can’t wait a few hours until I have to be at work?”

“Nope,” he says it like it’s the simplest conclusion.

“Can you tell me why?”

“Not over the phone.”

I sigh and run a hand through my hair.

“What’s wrong, babe?” Henry’s scratchy voice travels to my ears.

“Nothing’s wrong, sweetheart,” I kiss the top of his head as Duke voices, “Uh oh, am I interrupting a slumber party? Time for him to go home.”

 There’s the Duke I know.

“We live together, jackass,” I tell him as I run my hands through my boyfriend’s hair. “I’m getting up now. Text me your location; I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Yep,” is what I hear before he hangs up.

Kissing the mop of blonde again, I roll him onto his back.

“I have to go to work,” I can’t help but place a kiss on his lips too. “Apparently it’s important.”

“Is everything okay?” He struggles to keep his eyes open, but a worried crease forms between his eyebrows.

It makes me smile.

“Everything’s fine,” my lips find his and he lazily presses back. “Text me when you wake up and I’ll try to call you.”

-----

Clutching my cup of coffee in one hand, I use the other to show my badge to uniformed cop guarding the police tape. Duke, Sanders, Captain Walsh, and Bosse (Duke’s partner) are all standing in a circle when I get in. They stop talking when I approach.

“What’s going on?” I enquire. “Why is it so important that I’m here?”

I haven’t even stopped to look at the body or the scene around us. It’s nothing out of the normal night time crime scene. The cars are all pointed toward the scene to illuminate the area. Uniformed cops are stationed between each car holding back bystanders and media crews. I don’t need to look around to know what I’m dealing with. I’m tired and I want to get back to bed.

“Well first things first,” Captain steps up to me and puts a hand on my shoulder. “Come with me.”

I nod and follow behind him until we stop in front of what I presume is the victim. We always cover the body with a white sheet as soon as we get to the scene. There are a lot of reason behind that (keeping it from people’s sight, keeping it from losing evidence or gaining non-evidence), but that’s not important.

Sanders bends down and moves the sheet back to expose the face. He looks up at me, “Do you know this guy?”

It takes me a second, but I shake my head, “What is this about?”

Captain sighs and holds out an evidence bag, “This was pinned to his jacket.”

Taking it, I see there’s a note inside. I can’t read it because of all the words on the actual bag, but it hasn’t been sealed.

Looking over to Sanders, I raise a brow, “Do you have gloves on you?”

He shakes his head, but Captain stops one of the scene techs to grab a pair. When I get them on and take out the piece of paper, I read:

Detective Ashton,
It’s nice to see you actually care about your work. I would have guessed it was only for show. I was always such a fan of your dads. It’s almost tragic that you’re taking over their legacy. Back to the matter at hand! Now that I have your attention, I only have one request. Leave Henry alone, “Sammy Boy”. He deserves better than you. He looks so sweet and innocent. You on the other hand, I’ve been victim of your personal affairs. If you leave him, consider me gone. If you don’t, consider these deaths on your hands. No one deserves what you do to them.
I’ll be watching.

Looking back to Sanders, I motion towards the victim, “Can you show me his face?”

He does and I take another quick look. Once I see, I nod and he covers the man again.

“He doesn’t say who it is,” Captain remarks.

“No,” I agree, “but he looked vaguely familiar. And reading this, I just figured it out.”

“Who is it?” Sanders asks from where he’s crouched.

Sighing, I put the note back in the bag and hand it to a tech, “It’s a paparazzo that was following Henry and me from dinner with my parents a few nights ago.”

“And the killer knew that?” My partner stands and dusts his hands down his pants.

I shrug, “No idea.” Taking the gloves off, I stuff them into my pocket, “This is a little terrifying. Where do we start?” I look up to the captain.

He shakes his head, “You’re not working on this case.”

“What?! Why not? He targeted me,” I have to work on it.

“That’s why you can’t be part it,” he tells me.

“That’s dumb,” I argue. “Why did you call me all the way down here at,” I look at my watch, “three forty two in the morning?”

“We needed you to know what happened,” he explains, but looks like he has more to say. I raise a brow and wait, “We’re going to have you lay low for a while.”

“What does that mean?”

“You’re going to be on desk duty for a while for your own safety.”

“What?! No!”

He sighs, “It’s either that or I have to suspend you.”

“This is ridiculous,” I keep my voice low as I talk to him, but I’m getting pretty upset.

Some douche kills someone because they think they know me. And now, I have to lay low. I get penalize for some lunatics actions?

“What about Henry?” I ask.

I don’t want Henry to get hurt. That’s the absolute last thing I want to happen.

Captain shakes his head, “The best we can do is put a patrol around your building while you’re at work.”

“He’s not even there when I’m at work. He works too.”

Sanders walks up to me and puts a hand on my shoulder, “Why don’t we go back to the station and see what we can do? There’s no use in getting any more attention than you already have.”

Looking around, I see cameras snapping pictures and people calling out to us.

Ducking out of his grip, I turn my back on them, “I’m going back home. I’ll be in when my shift starts.”

“Ashton,” Captain calls out.

I stop and turn toward him, but don’t answer. I don’t want to yell and I don’t want to get more pissed off. This is not what I expected to happen when I got out of bed.

“Just keep your eyes open,” he tells me. “And stay home until I call you in. Try not to worry Henry too much.”

I laugh without humor, “Right.”

As I turn again, I hear my partner behind me, “I’ll go with him, Captain.” A few seconds later, Sanders’ hand is on my shoulder again. “We’ll get this all sorted out.”

“What do I do about Henry?” I ask as we walk toward my car.

His hands move to his pockets, “Just tell him to be careful.”

“I don’t want to lose him,” it’s an admission that I never thought I would be making.

I see him head nod out of the corner of my eye, “I know.”

We walk the rest of the way in silence. When we get in, I take a second to breathe with my head against the steering wheel.

This is crazy. I never thought that anything like this could happen. It’s hard enough to think about wanting to be with one person for the rest of my life, but throw in the fact that someone is threatening that? It’s almost too much to handle.

Taking a deep breath, I let it out slowly and look to the man sitting next to me, “Should I break up with him?”

He chuckles lightly, “No.”

“What if the person is really watching?”

He turns to look at me, “What do you think he’ll see even if you do break up?”

“I don’t know.”

“I do,” he gives me a serious look. “He’ll see two guys that look miserable, but still live together.” He raises a brow, “Unless you plan to kick him out too. You told me before that he wouldn’t have anywhere else to go.”

“No, I wouldn’t do that,” I’m quick to assure him.

He nods again, “I know.” After a second he turns back forward, “Nothing good could come out of you breaking up. You love him; even if you don’t know it yet. And you deserve to love just like the rest of us.”

“Thanks, Joe.” Starting the car, I look over at him, “What are we going to tell him?”

“You know him best,” he shrugs. “But I would say to warn him without making him panic.”

Pulling onto the street I nod, “Maybe we should just keep it to ourselves for now. We’ll just tell him that Captain needs some paperwork done before shift.”

“That’s a bad idea,” Sanders warns.

“I know,” I concede. “But, I don’t have another one and I don’t want him to worry prematurely.”

“Paperwork it is.”

~A/N~

IT'S BEEN TOO LONG!!

Oh my gosh guys, life has been insane. I'm not going into detail, but know that I missed you!!

Happy Sunday!