Chance and Reason

Chapter Thirty-Four

A/N: This chapter is more of a filler, but I wanted to update with something because I'm going away for a week, and won't be able to write. Again, thank you so much for keeping up with this story. You are amazing, and I am incredibly grateful!

As the pale light of dawn began to creep up over the horizon, Lauren was being driven back to the police headquarters. Only lorries and a few cars were on the roads at this early time, and as Vero had taken their car to the hospital, she had needed to catch a lift with one of the other police cars. It was a relief that she was not the one driving; her eyelids felt like lead, and she knew that she would have had enormous difficulty staying focused at the wheel.

"Long night, Agent J?" the young policeman driving asked cheerfully, as she forcibly suppressed another yawn.

"You don't know the half of it,"

He took a turn, and they pulled up outside the police building. She thanked him, and got out. Already, several vehicles were in the carpark, indicating that many had come into work early today.

When she got inside, Shawn was waiting for her at reception. He gave her a hearty clap on the back, and beamed proudly at her.

"You are something else," he grinned, "I got a call from Vero just now, and she told me all about what you did. I've said it before and I'll say it again – Lauren Jauregui, you are an outstanding member of this police force,"

She blushed, and gave him a playful punch in the shoulder.

"Just doing my job,"

"Well, if everybody did their job as well as you, I doubt we'd even have any criminals left to catch,"

They walked up to Lauren's department together, and entered the main office. On arrival, they found that nearly her entire team were present, and working. With the new development in the case, there was mountains of new paperwork and information to be processed. The telephones hardly seemed to stop ringing, and the shrill ping of incoming emails rang out persistently across the room.

"Can I have everybody's attention, please?" Lauren called out, thumping her hand down on a table, "I need to see the whole team in the briefing room in five minutes,"

Officers and staff looked up, surprised to see her in, but delighted nonetheless. Many gave her broad smiles, and waves, for they all knew what she had achieved overnight. She had always been a popular, if enigmatic, leader, and moments of heroic action, such as she had just performed, help to cement that trust in her.

When the five minutes had elapsed, the team traipsed into the briefing room. Lauren was stood at the front, and ushered them all to take a seat.

"Good morning!" she began, "Firstly, thank you, all of you, for getting in so early. You are doing your department and your country a great service,"

Somebody gave a shout from the back, and, although she failed to quite catch what was said, suddenly her whole team rose to their feet to give her a standing ovation. Embarrassed, but pleased, she good-naturedly gestured at them all to sit back down.

"That's enough of that," she chuckled, "I'm here to brief you all on how we are going to proceed with the case from here on out,"

A hush fell on her attentive audience. She had a way of speaking; not too loud or too forceful, but frank, and honest, that held her listeners captive. The people in the room were colleagues that she respected, and, in her own way, loved. When she talked to them, although they were in a crowd, she could have been addressing each one individually, such was her charisma, and way with words.

"As you are all aware, last night we apprehended four suspects, who we believe are involved in gang activity. They were holding hostage the pregnant girlfriend of one of our main sources, Austin Mahone, who is currently in a coma. It is speculation at present, but we feel that they may have been using her, as a way of ascertaining how much information we have on them,"