"Thanks again for watching over Jade for me," I tell Charlotte as I pick up Justin who immediately latches onto me. I met Charlotte through Jason and Jax last year and it wasn't just because I was working on Victoria's case. Through Jason, it was because she's his best friend and as for Jax, she's the mother of his kids and the person that also took custody of his younger brother when he couldn't.

"Don't worry about it, I heard most of what happened from Victoria and Haruto so there's nothing to worry about. Plus she was a former student of mine, she and Wren are in Camryn's class this year so she's welcome to stay here," Charlotte says with a wave of the hand. "I just can't believe this happened to Julia, I was shocked when I heard what happened."

"It was bad, really bad. That guy went in with the intent to kill and he almost succeeded if it wasn't for us bringing Jade back home at that time," I tell her, my mind flashing back to the past weekend. "The social worker that's looking over this case was surprised we knew each other," I tell her as Justin starts to pull onto my hair.

"Yeah, well, let's just say there was a day I threatened him when he wanted to revoke the custody I had over Wren and I was so tempted to kick his ass that day," she chuckles.

"Somehow I believe you'd do that," I laugh as my phone beeps from my pocket. "And that's my cue to leave," I tell her as I place Justin back on the floor.

"I'm guessing it's a busy night for you all?" she asks as she picks up her son and he snuggles into her arms, how cute.

"Yeah, my team has got a long night ahead but I'll try to be back here by ten at the latest. I'm not a real parent but I don't want to make some shitty mistakes like letting her stay up so late on a school night," I tell her as we walk back to the front door.

"Rule number one in parenting is you will never get it perfect. But it's fine, you have me, Victoria, Camryn, Jason and Nash so we'll all help," she says reassuringly.

"Yeah, I owe you all big time," I answer wryly as I tie back my boots. Footsteps come up from the basement and I hear Jade's voice calling my name.

"Are you going to work now?" she asks as I lace my other boot.

"Yeah, so you'll be staying with Charlotte for a while. I was surprised to learn that she used to be your teacher," I tell her as I stand back up.

"Ms. Dawson is my favourite teacher," she tells me and I raise my brow as I laugh.

"What about Ms. Valencia?" I ask and she lets out a gasp.

"Ms. Valencia is my favourite too, she's really funny and her class is fun," she says enthusiastically. 

"I'm glad to hear that," I chuckle as my phone beeps again. "I really have to go now but Nash or I will be back later to come get you okay?"

"Alright, I'm going to go and finish my homework with Wren," she tells me before bounding back upstairs.

"Thanks again Charlotte," I tell her as I open the front door stepping out into the late evening frosty air.

"Don't worry about it, just stay safe, all of you," she says in a worried tone.

"You got it," I tell her as I walk to my car and drive out of the driveway away from the house. I'm only just leaving the neighbourhood when my phone starts ringing, the annoying cellphone tone blasting in the car.

"I'm coming to the precinct right now, you don't need to keep calling me," is the first thing that spills from my mouth as I roll my eyes in exasperation.

"That was Jason messaging you beautiful and I haven't texted you once since you left to go drop off Jade at Jax's place," Nash's smooth voice comes through the speaker.

"Oh it's you," I say aloud as I make a right turn and Nash lets out a chuckle. "I'll be nice and forgive you," I tell him in a fake haughty voice and his laughter gets louder.

"Thank you for forgiving me your highness," he says while still laughing. 

"I'll be at the precinct in ten minutes but I'll ask again, Felix is absolutely sure, one hundred percent sure?" I ask the same question I've asked over five times today.

"Yes Natalia, I know it sucks for you because this was your top informant but it turns out he was lying the day you went to go question him," he tells me in a sombre voice. When I got the message from Nash last night who got information from Leo and I must say he pulled through as an informant, that someone I know knew about the drugs and let's just say I had to stop myself from going to the bar right there and then to confront him. Lucas Garcia, no criminal record but willingly became my informant two years ago when he was a witness to a robbery near his bar. Without his information a lot of the cases I've solved would still be open until now.

"Where does Jason want us going to? His house or somewhere else?" I ask as I slow down at a red light.

"Another team is going to his house, the warrant came in an hour ago and the rest of us are following him to a warehouse. Felix looked at traffic camera recordings and in the past three days he kept going to an industrial warehouse area, there aren't any camera's in that section so we'll have to check all the warehouses that are there," he explains and I nod my head as I press my foot on the gas.

"And who's going besides me, you plus Felix? Please tell me Aurora isn't coming with us," I ask in a tense voice. The last thing I need while working on a job like this is to deal with a woman that is not only a bitch but also a piece of shit. I already have to deal with arresting my informant but also dealing with her, I only have so much patience.

"Don't worry, I told Jason I didn't want her coming with us because she'd be a fucking liability and we don't have time to babysit," he says reassuringly. 

"Please tell me you said that in front of her?" I ask in excitement as I turn into the precinct and I see him standing outside the building leaning against the wall.

"Did you honestly think I wouldn't?" he questions and I can hear the smirk in his voice as I park my car and turn off the engine.

"Nash, you just made my fucking day!" I shout as I step out of my car, a grin on my face as I close the door behind me.

"I always want to make your day," he tells me as I walk up to him and wrap my arms around his waist and quickly lean up to kiss him.

"Hey handsome," I say to him, a flirtatious smile on my face.

"Hey beautiful," he answers as he leans down to kiss me softly for a couple of seconds. He pulls back a bit, a small smirk on his face as he brushes my hair from my face. "Let's get to work?"

"Yeah, otherwise we'll still be standing out here while you kiss me," I say with a light laugh.

"What can I say, you're a temptress, when it comes to you I can't really think straight," he says in a rough voice, kissing me one more time before taking my hand as we go to the door. 

"Then maybe you should loosen your restraint a bit," I tell him as he opens the door for me.

"Natalia remember what I said, I'm not with you for the sex," he says in a low voice as I walk past him.  I did give it some thought after Nash said he'd want to show me he's not in it for the sex and I believe him of course I can't help teasing him.

"I know, I'm just teasing," I say casually and his arm wraps around me, his hand resting on my ass, giving it a gentle squeeze. He kisses my cheek before moving his lips close to my ear.

"We'll definitely be coming back to this conversation," is all he says as he lets go of me and walks to our section in the precinct. I look around the open area and when I see none of my other coworkers I let out a small sigh of relief. I don't really care if others know, but having people at work look at us differently, I'd rather avoid that though the only person that knows something is going on is Jason; not like he'll treat us differently. I follow Nash to the back of the precinct where all our authorized weapons, our bulletproof vests plus the squad cars are stored.

"You're coming with us Chief?" I ask when I see him strapping on a vest.

"I need to see firsthand what's happening in that warehouse," he answers as he passes me a vest. "We're leaving in a couple of minutes so grab whatever you need." I quickly take off my jacket and pull the vest over my hoodie and I feel a pair of hands fasten it against me. I give Nash a quick smile before checking to see if my gun is loaded, tonight is going to be a long one. 

✘✘

"This is where you saw him going Felix?" I ask as I peer out the window at the empty street lined up with warehouses. 

"He turned his car down this street and the cameras showed him leaving two hours later, this is the only route he could enter or exit from," he answers from the backseat. We split into two groups with me, Felix, and Jason in one car while the while Nash with two other officers are in the other car behind us.

"I don't see his car and it fucking sucks most of the streetlights aren't working in this area; you planning to do a press conference soon Jason?" I ask glancing over at him.

"I'm way ahead of you on that Natalia, I have it planned for sometime soon," he answers and I nod my head, turning back to face the window. With the season being winter, it's already dark by five in the evening and you'd think it's one in the morning. And add to that, since it's currently snowing pretty heavily, whatever tire tracks were in the snow is currently covered so we're just relying on our vision. I squint when I notice a tire track and it's just our luck it's underneath a streetlamp.

"Jason, stop," I tell him as I open the door, tugging my hat on my head as I cross over to the imprint in the snow. I look at the direction it was turning to, the dark warehouse in front of me. 

"This the place?" Jason questions from behind me.

"Looks like it, do you want Nash and the others checking the others?"  I question as he steps up beside me. 

"Yeah, just to make sure," he answers and he waves his hand for them to keep going while we check out this place.

"Ready to get to work Felix?" I ask as he shuffles to my other side.

"You know I'd rather be with my computer," he answers as he pulls out his gun taking out the safety lock while we also follow suit.

"Alright, let's get this done, I have a ward I need to get back to," I tell them as I stride to the warehouse. The door is partially open so I squeeze my body through the small space while Jason pushes it open a little more for him and Felix to pass through. I nod my head to Jason that I'll search the upstairs portion of the warehouse while they check the bottom.

I pull out my flashlight to light the stairs and my footsteps make some of the steps on the staircase creak with my weight and I grit my teeth in frustration at the fact this might give me away. When I reach the landing I start checking behind the plastic-wrapped boxes filled with whatever goods that are stored here. I hear something fall to the floor a couple of feet away from me; that better have been Lucas. I quietly go towards where I heard the noise and see a figure kneeling on the floor trying to stuff something into a duffle bag.

"You know Lucas, when I asked you if you knew about the new drugs that are on the street the smart thing you should've said is yes. Now here I am catching you red-handed with said drugs and we both know what's going to happen next," I say in a quiet voice and he freezes when he hears me. "Hands in the air, stand up and turn towards me slowly," I instruct, my gun trained on him. He stands up and turns to face me, no remorse is on his face.

"You mind telling me why you're doing this? You're dealing these out so they're on the street now, weren't you? And then you make a profit from this," I accuse as I step towards him. It's the only plausible scenario as to why he's doing all of this. 

"This shit, they fucking said I'd get a big cut from selling it," he snaps just like I assumed.

"Too bad for you that's not going to be happening," I tell him as I get closer to him, my hand reaching for a pair of handcuffs. I'm a step away from him when a loud bang goes off and the next thing I feel is my arm throbbing in pain. Lucas takes that moment, the moment I'm momentarily distracted to rush at me and shove me out of the way with the duffle bag in his hand as he tries to run. Yeah fucking right, as if he's not going to leave tonight in the back of a squad car. 

I run after him and because it's dark, he keeps bumping into the boxes that are stacked around here. I point my gun at him and fire two shots, one goes by him but the other goes directly into his leg and I watch as he falls to the floor.

"You just had to try and make this difficult," I snarl as I shove my gun into its holster. 

"Natalia, where are you? We heard shots fired," Jason's voice calls out.

"Over here," I call back to him holding my flashlight in the air so he sees the light. Footsteps run in our direction and Jason and Felix stop to stare at the scene in front of them. "Felix, can you call an ambulance here, he has a bullet to the leg," I instruct as I go towards Lucas while taking off my scarf to put pressure on his leg.

"Felix, tell them we have two victims," Jason orders and I look at him in confusion.

"Why, there's only one person who got shot Jason," I tell him, my voice filled with confusion.

"You might want to feel your arm Natalia," he tells me and I take off both of my hands from Lucas' leg and place them on my arms and I immediately feel something thick and warm. I lift my hand and with the light from Jason's flashlight, red is coated all over my palm. I've seen blood cases and I'm okay with it, used to it even but for some reason I can't handle looking at it if it comes from me. I start to feel dizzy, and lightheaded and I already know what's happening next.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," I mutter and darkness consumes me as my body falls to the floor.

✘✘

A/N What is up everyone!! First and foremost, this has just gone through basic editing so please don't mind the grammar errors. I'm officially on break -YAY- and I have a new chapter up. Originally I was going to finish it on Monday to post on Tuesday but I had some last-minute assignments to finish so it had to be pushed back. But it's finally here.

Turns out Lucas is working with whoever is making the drugs but the more important question is who shot Natalia. Be sure to leave your thoughts on the chapter in the comments.