Hope In The Morning

13

"Well there isn't much I can do to help you." Marco mumbles as he sets down his clipboard, "I can stable you but you might have to go back to therapy until you can get your medication." I groaned loudly and threw my head onto the pillows of his bed. "Hell no. I'd rather go back to just working through my alcoholism." "You haven't?" He starts but I shake my head no, "Still sober. I would rather cut off my arm than break my promise to Pops." He smiles softly and turns to Thatch, leaning against the bedroom doorframe. They share a knowing look before Marco turns to his closet to get something. I stare up at the ceiling, listening to Marco's pet bird coo quietly on his perch. "Fae, I understand you don't want to go to therapy but if you talk to your friends about this, you can remove the majority of the stress." Marco walks back over with a couple of pills and a glass of water. "I can't." Tears spill from my eyes, "Robin tells me the same thing but for some reason I can't. The words get stuck in my throat, I feel small and like I'm drowning." I roll over on the bed to face the wall. I hear the glass make a noise as it was set down on the nightstand and the bed shifts when a new weight was added. I recognize the hand on my shoulder as Marco, "Fifi, you really should speak to your friends. They aren't there to judge or think less of you." "It's so hard." I utter. Marco stands and then he lets out a soft sigh, "Why don't you try and get some sleep, okay? We'll be downstairs if you need anything." He moves the blankets out of the way as he quickly pulls off my shoes and then pulls the blankets over me. "I'll let Law know that you're over here." Thatch calls from the door and I recall that I had smashed my phone hours earlier. "Thanks." I pull the blankets up to my chin as Marco leans down to brush some hair out of my face. "Sleep well Imouto." I listen as they shuffle out of the room and close the bedroom door.

~Flashback~
"Officer Faerie reporting for duty sir!" I smile as I salute my new captain. He moves the newspaper out of the way of his face, revealing a huge cigar in his mouth. He gives me a bored expression, "Put your hand down Rookie." "Yes sir." I place my hand at my side, "Oh, here are my papers, sir." I take the folder out from underneath my arm and hold it out for him to take. His eyes slowly move from my face to my hands before setting down his newspaper. He grabs the folder and opens it, skimming over my personal file. "Graduated top of your classes. A spotless record, hm." He places his feet back onto the ground and then kind of haphazardly set my file down on his desk that was covered with all kinds of paperwork, barely any room for his computer. "Here's your coffee Smoker!" A voice calls and I step out of the way to see a woman, probably not much older than me, hurry into the room with two mugs. She turned to me, "Oh, hello there." "Hi!" I grin. "Faith, meet your field officer Tashigi." Smoker's voice cuts in and Tashigi remembers that she's holding the mugs and quickly set them down. She then turns back to me, "It's nice to meet you." We say as we reach forward to shake each other's hands.

"Is Smoker always smoking?" I whisper to Tashigi as I wave the smoke out of my face. "You'll get used to it." She replies as we watch our Captain stand off to the side of the main room, speaking with his commanding officer. I had been here for only a week. "No, I'm sorry Mrs. Brown, nobody has brought in any information about your missing daughter." I turn my head to the front, seeing a older woman looking quite upset as she speaks to a fellow officer. She blows her nose into a handkerchief before wiping the tears from her eyes. Without thinking, I walk over to them both, "What's wrong?" Mrs. Brown looks up at me, "My daughter's been missing for two years and no one seems to have any answers." She sniffed. "Two years?" I ask "Maybe I can look into the case and see if I can find anything." "Really?" Her tearful eyes is suddenly filled with a look of hope. "Of course." I smile as she leans over the desk and grasps my hands in hers, "Bless you child." She gives me a small smile before she turns to walk out of the department. "Why would you do that?" The man sitting at the computer looked up at me, "Why would you give her such false hope?" "It broke my heart to see her like that." I reply. "You'll only setting yourself up for failure. That case has been cold for two years." He shook his head, "But I can get her file to be sent to your desk." "Thank you." I smile.