Chance and Reason

Chapter Thirty-Six

A/N: I really am sorry for how long it has taken me to update, but hopefully this long chapter will make up for it! With exams so close, it's been hard to find time to write. Thank you so much for supporting this story - it still blows me away when I see votes coming in, and such lovely comments from you. Have an amazing day, and enjoy.

Lauren was unsure for how long she slept. When she awoke, it was just growing light outside, with a pale glow emanating from out behind the curtains. Camila was dozing peacefully by her side, looking utterly divine in the untroubled state of dreaming. The duvet was pulled right up to her chin, and she had the sheets tucked in tightly around her.

With a soft smile, Lauren gently edged out of bed, and walked across to the wardrobe. From inside, she took out a pair of running shorts, and a t-shirt. Changing quietly, so as not to disturb the slumbering Camila, she pulled on her jogging gear. Once she was ready, she tiptoed over to the bed, and placed a gentle kiss on Camila's forehead, before slipping out of the front door, leaving a note on the kitchen counter explaining where she had gone.

There was a chill in the air that morning, and her breath came out in frosty clouds as she stepped onto the sidewalk. Tucking her phone into the band around her waist, she put her earplugs in, and smiled in satisfaction as music began to play. Being out so early, the city was practically deserted, and as she set off, it was as if the streets had been reserved for her use alone.

Following such a long rest, Lauren had been re-energised, and the exercise now felt good. By the time she passed the first few blocks, the stiffness was shaken out of her joints, and she found her rhythm. She was warming up too; not only with the physical exertion, but with the rays of the rising sun finally reaching down into the streets.

Soon her legs and chest began to ache, and she realised sadly that she was not as fit as she had been. When Lucy had been alive, the two had regularly attended the gym and gone running with each other, but following her death, and during the trial, Lauren had largely lost the motivation to do the activities that they had once done together. There had seemed to be little point to working out either; her stint at desk work had not required the same level of physical fitness as active duty in the field had.

When she reached the furthest point that she intended to run to, she stopped, and collapsed back against a wall, trying to regain her breath. Her muscles were burning with lactic acid, and she grit her teeth, and wiped the beads of perspiration roughly from her forehead.

She had run deeper into the inner city. Here, the buildings were in need of serious refurbishment, and the roads were littered with cracks and potholes. Some parts of the city had developed so drastically in recent years, but there were still huge areas that required massive improvement and funding, and this was certainly one of them.

Wrenching out her earplugs, she was struck with the sudden silence. She stared around the desolate neighbourhood, with its tall, bleak apartment blocks, and high chain link fences bordering grim backyards. A shiver ran down her spine that had nothing to do with the cold morning temperature.

The vibrations from her mobile almost made her jump out of skin, and she started in shock as the device started to buzz. Pulling it out of the pocket, she answered the call.

"Shawn! Hi,"

"Lauren, this is really important. Where are you?"

"I'm out. I went for a run,"

She heard him curse at the other end of the line.

"Run home," he ordered her, "Do you hear me? Go home now. It's not safe,"

"What are you talking about?" she huffed down the phone, "What's happened?"

Her surroundings were starting to feel more menacing, and the thinly-veiled panic in her friend's voice was making the hairs at the back of her neck stand on end.