I AM (Connor X OC) - DBH

Chapter 28: Out Again

I sat on the edge of the building talking to Deputy Lance until he finished his thermos and the cold caught up to him.

"C'mon, Charlotte. We ought to get home," he said, standing up finally, and walking away from the edge.

"Do you come up here often, Deputy?" I asked.

"Only when it seems like shit is going to shit," he responded starkly, opening up the roof latch. "Which is about every month and a half."

He climbed down the ladder and I followed. "I used to live in this apartment before I got my house about 5 year ago. It's...nice, isn't it?" Deputy Lance offered. The apartment building was by no means nice. The floor was dirty, the doors were nearly all broken, the walls were thin, and the building has the distinct smell of mold.

"It's...great," I said.

"Don't lie to me," Lance said seriously. "It's a shithole."

"Yeah...it is," I answered. We paced ourselves down the stairs, and Nick quickly got himself down to his car. I sat down in the passenger's seat. He drove us to the precinct so that we could complete more paperwork. So...basically...I sat there for 2 hours, and when I returned to Nick's house, I felt like I had been all around the world and back.

"You know, I don't mind staying at station, Deputy Lance," I explained getting out of the car.

"And you should know that I mind it. Nothing fun ever happens at the station during the night, save for murders and drunks."

"You must have a very strange definition of fun, Deputy."

"Or you just don't have a good sense of comedy," Nick said, shooting finger guns at me.

Nick ran up his stairs quickly and I heard his bedroom door close. I had to have been out of the house for 3 hours and 26 minutes yet, Christen, Margot, and Fiona haven't returned yet. It's getting dark.

Nick seemed to have realized the same thing, because he came down the stairs after about 5 minutes. "Where's Christen and Margot?" He asked.

"I'm not sure," I responded.

"Can you call them?" He asked while pacing.

Calling...

"They didn't answer, Deputy," I responded.

"Keep calling," he said firmly. He was getting to be very anxious and was pacing faster.

Calling...

No answer.

Calling...

No answer.

"Deputy, I've called again twice. There was no answer."

Nick reached into his holster and made sure his gun was loaded before rushing to the door.

"We're leaving out again," he said, seriously.

Nick, being so usually bouncy and childish, was surprisingly stoic. Even when he's upset by something else, he typically has some emotion on his face. Now though, when it comes to his sister and niece, he is absolutely emotionless.

I followed him out to his car, again, and we left to search out for Fiona, Margot, and Christen.