You Go Girl

Rachel

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The bullets flew from the barrel of my pistol, and I smiled as they hit the target. Bulls-eye.

I turned to Liam, a smirk on my face, and held out my palm and waved my fingers at him.

"Pay up. That was three in a row," I taunted.

Liam sighed and slapped a twenty dollar bill in my hand. I curled my fingers around it and stuffed it in my uniform pocket.

"I see you two are at it again," a deep voice said from behind us. We turned around and looked up at the Chief, who was standing atop the deck above, watching us.

"Sorry Chief," Liam bowed his head. I, however, kept my head up and my eyes trained on Chief Johnsen.

"Mitchell, what have I told you about betting on things you know you're going to lose?" Chief chuckled, and Liam began to loosen up a bit too as he gave a tentative laugh as well.

"And Lara, don't you have something better to do that take money from this poor bastard?" He smiled and began to descend the stairs.

"Yes sir, sorry. Won't happen again during work hours," I promised with a grin.

"Damn right it won't," Liam cried, and I burst out laughing. He turned to me with his eyes wide, eyebrows up looking at me with mock surprise.

Chief Johnsen let out a deep, bellowing, laugh and clapped Liam on the back.

"Mitchell, Lara, things would be so dull around here without the two of you," his mustache bristled as his lips curled into an even bigger smile. "But, damn, you two do not work! Get back to your jobs!"

"Yes sir," we both said, and began up the stairs to the office we shared.

"Well, Rachel Lara, you win. This time. But next time, it'll be you that owes me."

"Don't be so sure, Mr. Mitchell."

"Oh shut up," he took a seat in his swivel chair. Our desks were pushed together in the center of the room, to where when we worked, we sat facing one another.

To be honest, we had the desk arrangement from The Office.

I sat down in my chair, scooting myself closer to my emaculate desk. I had one file to finish for a case from yesterday, and then I would be finished with paperwork for my shift.

I glanced up at Liam, who was practically buried in paperwork, and giggled.

"What're you laughing at, Lara?" Liam smirked, craning his neck to see me from above the stack of papers.

"Nothing. I was just relishing in the sweet, sweet victory. Plus the fact that I get to go home," I scribbled my signature at the bottom of the paper and slapped the folder shut, sliding it across the desk with a smug smile.

"You suck, you know that?"

"Forever and always. See ya tomorrow!" I grabbed my bag from besides my desk and walked to Chief's office.

"Hey Chief, I'm heading out for today. I'll see you tomorrow afternoon for my next shift."

"Alright, sleep well Lara- you'd better not come to your first graveyard shift just absolutely dragging. And I'll let you in on a little secret- the night shift is when all of the good action happens," he winked at me and I grinned.

"Can't wait," I said, "bye Chief."

"Bye Lara."

I practically skipped out of the building. The weather was perfect, the wind blowing slightly, adding a cool touch to the sunny day. I turned and strolled casually down the street, people watching.

Before I knew it, I ended up standing in line for a food truck in the park, waiting to buy one of the city's best tamales money could buy.

"Next," the man in the truck called, leaning slightly out of the open window. I stepped up to the ordering station, still debating on what kind of tamale I wanted.

"What'll it be today, Officer?"

"I think I'll take a beef tamale, thank you," I gave a satisfied grin.

"Sounds good," the man shouted my order back to the cook, and turned back to me.

"What do I owe you?" I asked.

"Actually, the man a few people in front of you paid for your meal. Said to thank you for your service," the man in the window grinned. A smile blossomed on my face.

"Well, in that case, I think I'll pass on the line of kindness and pay for the food of the person behind me. Why not?"

I handed a ten dollar bill to the cashier and he gave me a smile. He had a dimple in his right cheek that sucked in when he smiled big. He was kind of cute.

"Thank you, officer. I wish everyone was this nice," he commented, handing me my bag of food.

"Thank you," I accepted the bag and walked away from the truck, a feeling of pride swelling in my chest from the simple act of kindness of a random stranger. It was more people like that the city needed, not the sleazy people we're always chasing at work.

I found a shady spot in the park, underneath a large Bradford Pear Tree. Every so often, cool specks of water from the nearby fountain blew toward me and hit my face.

"Mind if I sit next to you?" A girl's voice asked.

I looked up and saw a mousy girl standing there, a sketch book and a bag of food in hand. Her long, sandy brown locks fell in front of her face, and her shoulders were hunched in fear. Something about her appearance didn't settle with me right. Someone had hurt her, I could tell.

"Of course, take a seat," I said, smiling gently as I patted the grass next to me.

"Thank you for paying for my meal," she said quietly.

"No problem. Someone paid for my meal, I decided that I was having a pretty good day, so I decided to spread the kindness."

"Well thank you and thanks for letting me sit with you," she motioned to the ground, "This is always where I come to relax. It's kinda been my spot. I've been coming here with my mom since I was six. Well, that is, until recently when she passed away. It's been hard, but I still come here. I would sit somewhere else, but I would just feel wrong. Sorry, I don't know why I'm rambling- I don't usually feel comfortable talking to strangers but there's something about you. Maybe it's your uniform, but- sorry."

I raised my hand to brush a piece of hair behind my ear, an amused smile on my face. However, as I raised my hand, the girl took a step back and seemed to tense up- almost as she was bracing herself for something. My smile fell immediately.

"It's okay, take a seat. I'd love some company," I nodded my head toward the spot next to me. She hesitated, clutching her book a bit tighter to her chest.

"Seriously, sit. I promise, I don't bite," I gave her a gentle smile and scooted over a bit.

"Alright, sorry again. That's not like me at all, I swear."

"Well, I'm honored that you felt like you could open up to me," I smiled, and I thought I even saw a flicker of something like a smile on her face.

As she knelt down to sit next to me, her sun dress blew up a bit, and I only had a second to see the bruises lining her upper thighs before she quickly brushed the dress down again.

I bit my lip, anger bubbling up inside of me. True, I had no idea the origin of the bruises, but I had a fairly confident answer. But, I wasn't going to say anything. Not yet.

Instead, I decided, I needed to get closer to this girl. Maybe, just maybe, I could get her to confess to me, and I could catch the son of a bitch who was behind the pain of this poor girl.

(A/N: Okay, so I decided to add pictures of who I picture as the 'cast' of this story, so here, I picture Rachel as Jaina Lee Ortiz as Rachel Lara [even though there is an Andrea in this story for all you Station 19 watchers :P ] I hope you enjoy this story!)