|29| Worries

Steve gets me into his truck as I try to pull myself together. He reaches over me and buckles my seatbelt. He slides back out and stands there watching me.

"Steve." I say interrupting his thoughts.

"Hmm?" He says without looking away from me.

"I'm fine." I hear him let out a little sigh and he just leans down and kisses the top of my head. He doesn't say anything, he just shuts the door and walks over to the driver side. Before he gets in I see Danny walk over to him. I don't know what they're saying, but I don't think I want to know. I hate that everyone knows my past now. All of them. They only talk for a few seconds and Steve gets back in the car. "Steve." I say as he starts the car.

"Yes?" He puts the car and drive and we start to drive away.

"I...thank you."

"For what?"

"Helping me...saving me...I know it's your job and all, but-"

"Hey-" He says as he grabs my hand. "I don't care if it's my job or not, I would do anything to keep you safe. You know that right?"

"I know." I look out the window and  notice that we are going the opposite way from his house. "Where are we going?"

"You're place."

"Why?"

"I just figured you'd be more comfortable at home. With your brother there and everything."

"I'm comfortable wherever you are."

"I know." He says as he looks over at me and smiles.

"But you're right. I would like to sleep at home tonight."

"I figured that."

"As long as you're there."

"Of course I will." He lifts my hand towards him and kisses the back of my hand. I just look out the window and watch all the trees go by. I wish none of this would of happened. Besides the fact of how scary the past two hours have been, now everyone knows. Everyone knows that I made a mistake that got two kids killed. Two kids that could still be alive today. All because I wanted to take down this guy.

"Can I ask you a question?" I ask, Steve.

"Anything."

"Did you know?"

"Did I know what?"

"About everything with my past?"

"I knew there was something. I didn't know what."

"So you never looked into it?"

"No. But why would I? I mean I knew you didn't want anyone knowing. There would be no point of me going behind your back and looking."

"But now everyone knows..."

"Brooklyn..." He looks over at me as tears start forming in my eyes again. "Hey. You were in danger."

"I know. But that doesn't matter to me. It matters that everyone knows how everyone knows the biggest mistake I have ever made. That I put peoples lives in danger, knowing that it could end that way."

"No. Stop." He says as he turns in front of my house. "First of all, nobody thinks of you like that. We all have a past. We all have things that happened in our career that we don't like talking about. All of us." He turns the car off and leans over to me. "Second of all, there is no way, absolutely no way you would've known it that it was going to end the way it did." He brings his thumb up to my cheek and wipes away my tears. I just loose myself and couldn't stop crying. "Hey, hey. Come here. You're fine. It's gonna be okay." He leans over closer to me and wraps his arms around me. "Let's go inside. Hold on." He hurries to get out of the car and comes over to the passenger side. He opens my door and unbuckles me. I lean over to him and he carries me out of the car. We get to the front door and he knocks after realizing it was locked. I just stayed there, in his arms, with my face in the crook of his neck.

"Hey-hey what's going on?" Everest says with a panic behind his voice.

"Just give us a minute. I'll be right back." I hear Steve say to Everest as we walk inside. Steve carries me to my room and sets me down on my bed. He starts to get up and I groan and try and pull him closer to me. "Hey, I'll be right back, okay? You're brother is freaking out."

"Please don't tell him..." I say quietly. Practically pleading.

"Brook, how am I not supposed to tell him?"

"Just, just don't tell him everything. Please."

"He doesn't know?" I could hear the shock in his tone.

"No. He doesn't."

"Okay. I won't tell him everything. I'll be right back." I take a couple short breaths through my nose and roll over on my side.

*STEVE'S POV*

I close Brooklyn's door almost all the way, leaving a small crack in case she needs something.

"What's going on? What happened? I thought you guys just went to dinner?" Everest's words come out almost to fast to understand. I just nod my head over towards the living room and he follows.

"She's okay. She's fine. Okay?"

"Just, what happened?"

"We were driving back to my house after dinner, she was following me. Then out of nowhere I notice she's not behind me anymore. I looked behind me and she had been run off the road."

"WHAT?!"

"Shh. Yes. The man who was driving the car took her." I keep talking before he can say anything else. "We found her though. She is safe. She is unharmed."

"Why? Why did someone take her? Did this have something to do with you?"

"What? No. This did not have to do with me." I start to get slightly offended but I realize where he's coming from, so I let it slide. "It was something from her past on the force."

"What do you mean?"

"I think she wants to tell you about that herself. But, Everest. She is okay. We got to her before anything happened. Actually by the time we got to her she already had the gun on him." Everest doesn't say anything, he just sits down on the couch and puts his face in his hands. "Everest."

"You don't understand. What this is going to do to her." He looks back up at me, his eyes now bloodshot red.

"What are you talking about?"

"Steve, she is not like other girls...or people in general. She is going to go into denial."

"I mean, that sounds pretty normal."

"The 'can't be left alone' type of denial. Although that's all she's gonna want. She's not going to talk about it."

"Okay, that still sounds somewhat normal. I mean she just went through a lot. I'm sure she just doesn't want to deal with it all at once."

"Oh, no. No she will. Eventually. Look-" He stands back up in front of me. "When our dad died, she just went on with life. She didn't talk about it. She didn't acknowledge it whatsoever.  She went to school, she hung out with friends, she did typical girl things. But whenever anyone brought him up, whether it be a memory or just his name, she shut off. No emotion on her face, no reaction to anything. Steve..."

"So you're just worried about how she's gonna react? Not what just happened to her."

"Of course I am worried about what just happened to her, Steve!" I narrow my eyes a little just so he knows he needs to calm down. "Even though I really don't understand. I am worried how she's going to react to all of this." He sits back down on the couch and I see a couple tears go down his cheek. I sit down next to him.

"Okay. Okay...I am here for both of you. I am going to help her through this, and I am going to help you. Whatever you guys need."

"Right now, I think it's best you just be with her tonight. We will see what happens in the morning and we can figure this out."

"Okay."

"I'm uhh, I'm gonna try and get some sleep."

"That's a good idea." We both stand up.

"Just tell her I love her? And I will see her in the morning?" Everest says as we both stand outside the bedroom doors.

"Of course." I open the door just enough for me to get in and close and lock it behind me. Brooklyn is still laying on her side on her bed. I can see the light reflecting off of her tear soaked eyes. "Hey." I say quietly. She doesn't say anything. "Let's get you into something a little more comfortable." I say as I walk over to her. She rolls over on her back and sits up. I slide her shirt off over her head and fold it to put on her dresser. I take my shirt off and slide it over her head. I see a small smile on her face as she puts her arms through the sleeves. "Pants or no pants?" I ask her.

"No."

"Okay." I reach out my hand and help her stand up as she unbuttons her shorts. She slides them onto the ground and turns back around to move the sheets back. She crawls into bed as I pick her shorts up off the ground and toss them in her laundry basket in her closet. I pull the string on the lamp next to her and make my way to the other side of the bed. I take my cargo pants off and get into bed next to her. I get close to her and wrap my arms around her, causing her to slide towards me, putting her face against my chest. I just lay there with her, as she falls asleep. Thinking about what Everest had just told me. Is this all going to be different in the morning?...