Warning: Mention of suicide and spoilers for the original Criminal Case in the beginning (I know about these because I've spoiled myself on the wiki but just in case there are people reading this that like me got into this series through a different game, I'm just warning you all now). There may be some whiplash because we go from a really sad moment, to a happy moment but I hope you all enjoy regardless <3

Carmen and Grace sat in a conference room in front of a pin board attempting to put the pieces together.

They were trying to figure out who would've wanted to assassinate Chief Ripley.

But in truth, they were doing busy work to distract themselves. Because their flight to Morocco wouldn't be able to fly anyone out for a few days (they had just had a layover to get back to the main headquarters), Carmen and Grace—everyone else on the Bureau's team—we're sitting ducks.

"I just...I still can't believe she gone!" Carmen explains unprovoked, frustrated by what they had just experienced. Grace nods silently, not offering another opinion.

"I wish this was the first time this has happened." Grace says, instead, ominously. Carmen stares at her, but doesn't otherwise provoke her to say anything. Grace sighs, thinking about what to say next.

"When I first became a detective at Grimsborough, I was under the leadership of Captain Samuel King. He was a good captain, I admired him...until he was accused of killing one of our suspects. My partner, David, refused to believe. I did too. But then he confessed and soon we couldn't deny the truth anymore. He...he shot himself in the head. And I...I wish this didn't happen so often, you know?" Grace finishes, looking over at Carmen and trying not to cry.

Carmen doesn't say anything, just nods and squeezes Grace's shoulder.

The detective doesn't tell her partner about all the other deaths she experienced. The death of her last partner Frank and all the gruesome murders she's had to witness.

But Grace knows that Carmen probably already knows enough about gruesome murders and the evil people who make them.

And there are just some things that Grace will to the grave.

ılı.lıllılı.ıllı.

Gretta finds Elliot in the Tech Room, staring intently at the computer screen.

"Hey." He greets her without looking away.
"Hey," she sits down and peers at his expression, "you going to be okay?" Elliot pauses in what he's doing to think about that and then shrugs.
"I don't know. I don't think anyone is okay with what happened." Gretta nods in agreement.
"Yeah...you're probably right."

It goes quiet after that, the two unable to think of what to say yet.

"Hey Gretta?" Elliot asks after a few minutes.
"Hm?"
"Thanks...for uh...asking about me." Gretta shrugs casually.
"It's nothing. You've done the same for me in the past. Figure I'd return the favor." She says, a small smile gracing her lips.

Elliot nods in agreement.

"So...I heard you were staying here. Is that true?" Gretta shakes her head.
"Mom is worried about my safety, I can't blame her for that. But I've convinced her that I can handle whatever happens and I think that was enough for her to trust me." She explains, looking over at Elliot.
"Really? You want to come?" He says, clearly shocked.
"Yeah...why not? I like it here. And I like working with you." She admits and Elliot can't help it and lets out a chuckle.

Gretta's eyebrows furrow in confusion.

"What's so funny?"
"Nothing! It's just amusing that you say that now because in the beginning, you hated me."
"I never hated you, Elliot." Gretta replies, firm and without hesitation.

Elliot looks shocked by this revelation.

"No?"
"No. You're annoying as hell but you're also not as bad as you seem. Did you hate me at first?"
"...no." He answers honestly.
"Well good! I'm glad." She says, beaming.

Something about her smile at this moment makes Elliot's heart flutter.

"Gretta?" He asks again.
"Yes?" Comes the reply.

Elliot becomes hesitant, starting at her face, then her lips and back again.

"This is...harder than I thought it would be." He admits, a blush creeping up on his face. Gretta looks amused by his reaction.
"The answer is yes." She says after a long pause.
"...what?"

Gretta stands up, grabbing Elliot's hand so they meet in the middle and places her hands on the sides of his face, pulling him towards her.

Elliot realized belatedly that she was at least an inch taller than him before Gretta leaned forward to kiss him.

It wasn't like all the rom-coms portray it, where the two characters come together at the end of the movie and sparks fly.

It was more hesitant, more chaste, more subtle than a kiss in the movies could ever be.

There were no sparks, it was just two people coming to the realization that they can't hide how they feel anymore and just go for what they want.

They stay there for a minute before Gretta's eyes shift to the door where a shadowy figure appears.

Unexpectedly, she makes a noise of panic and push Elliot's back into his chair—hard.

He winced as his back hits it but that soon becomes irrelevant when he realizes why Gretta pulled away.

"Hey, just wanted to check and see how you're doing. Ingrid found a faster flight for this afternoon so I wanted to come and get you." Grace explains, standing near the stairs with a small smile on her face.
"Oh...that's great, mom." Gretta says, trying to act natural.

However, Grace is a detective for a reason and she doesn't miss a beat.

"...is everything alright?"
"Yes, of course. Why wouldn't it be?" Gretta replies, although her voice rose a bit which was a possible sign she was lying.

Grace raises an eyebrow.

"You sure?"
"Mm-hm. Everything's fine, right?" She asks, turning to Elliot.
"Yeah, everything's fine." He repeats.

Grace doesn't seem entirely convinced but she doesn't press about it.
"Alright...well, whenever you're ready, Gretta, come upstairs. We need to start packing" Grace says, before walking back up the stairs.

Once Gretta is sure the door closes, she turns to Elliot.
"Sorry! I panicked!" He shrugs.
"It's okay."

They stare at each other and let out a few awkward laughs, like they were sharing some big secret which in a way they were. Gretta smiled at Elliot, giving him another chaste kiss before grabbing her bag to leave.

"See you tomorrow, Elliot!"
"See you tomorrow, Gretta."

Author's Notes

Grace seriously needs to invest in a therapist with the amount of trauma she goes through, seriously.

That will happen, eventually. But for now, I want to move on to happier news...

GRETTA AND ELLIOT FINALLY KISSED!!!

I'm so glad I could build up to their relationship because most of the time when I write romance it seems instant-romancey (to me at least) so this has been good practice, and I love this relationship so that's a win too.

They aren't officially a couple yet, but they are starting to get there—baby steps!

There's not a lot going on in this chapter because I couldn't really think of anything to add. But we have a nice balance of heavy and light-hearted, so that's good, right?

These little "interludes" will generally appear before each new region as a gap in between (although there's exceptions). Basically, it's fillers for my characters to process information and to discuss the previous cases because why not? Lol

This one, obviously, concerns the death of Chief Ripley and Gretta and Elliot's relationship.

Originally, I was going to have a canon divergence where Gretta and other members would stay in Europe (as Gretta eluded to in her chat w/ Elliot) but I've decided to instead have them all share a safe house/apartment.

Anyway, next region is, obviously, the Sahara so I will be writing Murder by Proxy very soon <3

BatgirlGeek❤️

P.S. We've reached number 7 on the criminal case tag and 800 reads recently, thank you so much <333