"Natalia, Jade!" The two of us turn to look at the open hatch of the roof and see Nash looking at the two of us in relief, confirming we have zero injuries. 

"Nash!" Jade exclaims as she stands up and rushes over to him. I get up and follow behind her at a slower pace carrying both her school bag and mine. I watch Nash go back down before keeping an eye on Jade as she descends and then on me as I go down and close the hatch.

"I'm so glad you're okay, both of you," Nash says in comfort as he pulls the two of us into his arms. "You did such a fucking good job beautiful," he whispers in my ear before pressing a kiss to my head.

"Well we have one very brave girl with us, she's strong," I say as I pull back and ruffle Jade's hair as she grins up at me.

"Natalia was so cool Nash, she was like, bring Jade closer to me or I'm not handing it over," she says mimicking my voice. "And then she kicked whatever she was giving them."

"You weren't scared?" Nash asks her in a soft as he looks at her keeping a sturdy hand on her shoulder. She keeps silent for a couple of seconds before I see tears welling up in her eyes and they run down her face as she furiously tries to wipe them away.

"I was a little scared but my mom always told me that if something is scary I should be brave and always get help from an adult," she says confidently.

"It's okay if you were scared Jade, I wish that never happened but of course I promise to protect you just like your mom would have done," I say as I hug her and she lets out a sob against my jacket. 

"Let's grab some of your things, both of you and then we'll relocate somewhere else," Nash tells us as I run my fingers through Jade's hair.

"Did they already check the apartment?" I ask as we go to take the stairs back down to my apartment, hopefully the investigational team has reached out to him while he's been up here with us.

"I just got a message saying Jade's room was untouched but yours was ransacked and it sounds like she was cutting your clothes," he says as he checks his phone, voice trailing off after in confusion for a moment before sighing as he pockets his phone. "What a fucking psycho," he mutters under his breath.

"Okay we'll grab things from Jade's room, you help her pack while I call her mom," I tell him once we reach my floor. "You guys go ahead, I'll see if Haruto is still there so I can talk to her."

"Alright, we'll wait for you, anything you want me to grab?" he asks as Jade grabs onto his hand, we can hear the voices of other police officers in the hall.

"Anything salvageable clothing-wise and for my electronics, leave it for now I'll deal with it when they give the apartment an all clear," I tell him and he nods his head as they walk out, the staircase door closing softly from behind them. Now for the hard part. I take out my phone dialling Haruto's number as I lean against the wall running my fingers through my hair in exhaustion. 

"Nat, what's up?" he asks when he picks up.

"Haruto, is Julia done with the doctors?" I ask him getting straight to the point.

"Uh-oh, you calling me Haruto and not sensei must mean some serious shit happened," he says as his voice goes sombre. 

"Yeah, which is why I really need to talk to Julia but it would help if you stayed while we're talking, I'd rather she not panic," I tell him. Well, not more than she already will when she hears what happened. 

"Nat, I need you to run by me what happened before I pass the phone to her, she's still in recovery and I'd rather she not have a heart attack," he tells me, his voice going into doctor mode.

"Long story short, someone from the team I'm currently working with was at my apartment and ambushed the two of us. She took one shot at me but we're fine, not a scratch on either of us but I wanted to let Julia know. She can decide if she still wants Jade staying with us or finding other accommodations if she feels like we're not safe," I explain to him.

"Alright but try to make it simple as possible and less scary than it might have been," he instructs me and I don't answer while I wait for him to head over to her hospital room. I listen for a couple of seconds of a muffle conversation before Julia's voice comes through the phone.

"Natalia? Haruto told me you wanted to speak to me, is everything okay?" she asks in a soft voice.

"I needed to talk to you, something happened when Jade and I got home. Someone was waiting for us, for me specifically because of a case I'm currently working on. The person in question took a shot at me but I'm okay and Jade is okay as well. I made sure she was far away from everything, her safety was a top priority for me over mine," I explain calmly. "But it did rattle her and I wanted to let you know as soon as possible."

"It's scary to hear your child was almost injured but I'm relieved she's okay and safe, you as well Natalia," she tells me and her voice sounds shaky when she says that. 

"I wanted to ask if you still wanted Jade to stay with us. Of course I still want to be her guardian while you recover but if you feel it'd be best she stays somewhere else then I understand," I say to her and a  part of me feels sad when I say that. She's such a sweet kid but at the same time I understand if Julia feels it'd be safer if she is placed somewhere else.

"Why would I want Jade to leave you? I'm perfectly okay with her staying with you while I'm still here," she tells me and my mouth drops for a moment in surprise.

"But-"

"Natalia, the fact that you said that you didn't care about your safety and that Jade's only mattered tells me that you have a  heart of gold. I don't see any reason for Jade to go anywhere else when you're already doing a fine job in taking care of her," she chides gently. "And besides I know Jade wouldn't want to leave either. She's grown attached to you and Nash, she spent most of the time today talking about the two of you. As cheesy as it sounds, you're our family's guardian angel," she says with a laugh and I chuckle along with her.

"If that's what you want then okay. Did you want to talk with her? Nash is with her grabbing her things so we can go over to his apartment but I can call them over," I tell her as I open the staircase door and walk out into the hall to where my home is taped off.

"No, call me later when you guys are settled at Nash's place and everything has calmed down. Call the hospital number and tell them - you'll stay here until later? But your shift is done right?" I hear her question and I'm guessing Haruto offered to stay until I call back later. "Okay call Haruto, I guess he's staying with me until then," and a sly grin crosses my face when she says that.

"Haruto really wants to be friends with you you know," I tease and she lets out a light laugh.

"No comment Natalia, no comment," she tells me still laughing. "I'll talk to you later."

"Definitely," I say to her before hanging up the phone. I nod my head at the officers guarding the door as Nash and Jade walk out with Nash having one bag on his front and two on each shoulder. 

"So what'd her mom say?" he asks, his voice lowering so Jade doesn't pick up on his words.

"She's good to stay, thanked me for keeping her safe," I answer as Jade moves to stand beside me and takes my hand again. "But for now, let's get out of here and get to your place. Jade, we'll call your mom a little later so you can talk to her before you go to sleep," I tell the young girl and she perks up in excitement when I mention her mom. Walking to the elevator, the tense feeling edged into my body slowly dissipates. With Jade's hands clasped in mine and Nash's on my back, it feels like I can breathe again. 

✘✘

"Why is it all the women in my life have done the craziest things ever?" Jason sighs as he pours a cup of coffee for himself and then places one in front of me. It's currently midnight, almost five hours from the time we left my apartment.

"Hey, don't look at me like that. It was the smartest thing I could choose at the time," I say with a pout and he lets out another sigh before patting my head.

"You did good Natalia, like always," he tells me as I grin back at him. He moves to sit across from me as Nash walks back into the kitchen taking a seat beside me.

"I checked on Jade, she's still asleep," he tells me as he takes my coffee and takes a sip of it. The three of us are currently at Nash's apartment. While the investigation is still going on we'll be staying at Nash's place and probably for the foreseeable future. Unlike my place where people will let anyone in if they see them using the intercom, most likely automatically assuming they're there to visit someone.

Nash's place on the other hand has security at the front door and a list of names of who's allowed to visit the tenants. On Nash's list it's only Jade, myself, and Jason plus the security know what the three of us look like so there's no reason for mistaken identity. 

"So she was after that?" Jason says as he looks at the laptop beside me. "Her apartment was cleared out when I sent people to check, not a single thing was there. You'd think no one was living there."

"I heard from Georgia she resigned on the phone this evening, probably when she reached my place," I tell them. Georgia was taken by surprise when Aurora told her she was quitting and then heard that she was now a wanted criminal. "She said she got an email about being paid to grab the laptop and how they found out she used to be a hitman but from what she told me she doesn't know who reached out to her."

"Besides what happened we have to open a separate investigation into whatever she said," Jason says as his finger taps the counter. "Any closer to decoding whatever is on the computer?"

"I'd say give me another day or so, I'm staying home today with Jade, I sent a text to her teacher kind of explaining the situation and her mom gave the okay to miss the day," I tell him and he nods his head in agreement. 

"The minute you have it unlocked I want you at the precinct," he orders as he drowns the rest of his coffee at once before taking his mug to the sink.

"Got it and don't worry about washing it, I'll take care of it later. For now you should get your ass home, you got your own family waiting up for you," I tell him as I get up to steer him towards the door.

"Shouldn't be talking to your boss like," he says jokingly as he slips on his boots and I hand him his jacket.

"Too bad for you I'm off the clock," I say cheekily as he rolls his eyes and flicks my forehead fondly.

"Alright have a goodnight you two," he tells us as he opens the door.

"See you later Jason," Nash calls out from the kitchen.

"Tell Victoria I'll call her when it's lunch at school," I tell Jason as he nods his head before walking out. I lock the door behind him and turn off the entryway lights before going back to Nash. I go behind him wrapping my arms around his shoulders as I rest my head against his. He moves my arms before turning around in the chair and pulling me between his legs, my forehead resting against his.

"I'm really fucking glad both of you are okay," he says quietly as his hands go to my hips, sliding under my sweater so it just rests on my skin.

"Same here, I get what Victoria and Charlotte meant when they said that all the dangerous things that happened, their lives didn't matter at that moment except for their kids," I say quietly as he moves back pressing soft kisses against my face.

"Of course I'm not surprised you still managed to kick ass and get the upper hand, bet whoever gets your computer is going to be fucking pissed," he huffs in laughter as he kisses my cheek again. "My girl knows what's up."

"That's exactly what I was thinking," I say pulling back from him as I laugh. He looks up at me silently, no smirk on his face but rather a small smile. My hands move from around his neck to cup his face as my thumbs stroke his cheeks. "Sorry I scared you again."

"Occupational hazard of the job beautiful, can't blame you for that," he says calmly as he pulls me closer. I lean down, my lips brushing against his as he moves in to kiss me. His lips bite down on mine gently before his tongue is brushing against mine. 

My hands move from his face back to around his neck as we kiss languidly, there's heat between us is there but it's more muted, it just feels good. I break the kiss when I need some air and simply move to hug him as he hugs me back with the same amount of force.

"Can we stay like this for a bit?" I whisper as he kisses my head and I relax against him. 

"Yeah, don't feel like letting go of you just yet," he answers and a smile blooms on my face as he just holds me, at the moment I can put whatever happened today behind me.

✘✘

A/N Back with another chapter!! I've been writing three stories offline while working on this chapter and surprisingly it's helped. Whenever I got stuck somewhere I could go to one of my other works and write until a good way to word things hit me. This was quieter and I just love writing character interactions, I just try to make each one super meaningful.

What did you all think of the chapter? Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments! And as always thank you all for the support when it comes to all three stories in the series!! ♡♡♡