Into My Heart

LXXIX

LIA

The laboratory was still drowned in the dark, as the early morning lights were illuminating the dark circles under my eyes: I haven't really slept for two days, but there again that is a great quality I have than this of not needing too much sleep to function. The two bodies that were found connected to Kelley O'Hara were requiring a lot of work, as all obvious and less obvious evidences were cleaned by whoever removed the victims' eyes and killed them. As I was currently running analyses on saliva samples, as well as blood cells around the removed eyes, I just sat down in the middle of the laboratory, exhausted and desperate: what if no useful ever came in and we weren't able to solve this case?

I was so tired that I hadn't even seen someone walk into the laboratory unannounced and unauthorised, so when I look up and come face to face with Kristie Mewis, I jump a little, almost falling on the ground.

As her laugh invades the room, she exclaims:

"No need to be this dramatic, forensics gal" she ironically lets out, openly mocking me.

"What on Earth are you doing here?" I immediately ask, not impressed.

As I am looking around to make sure nobody saw us, she just casually says:

"Well, I came to see your cute face, Wälti - and also see if you had found anything useful yet?" 

"Which part of 'I will get back to you as soon as I find something' don't you understand?" I ask, quite annoyed. As Kristie sits down on a chair in front of me, starting to play with evidences, I just take them from her hands aggressively, before hissing: "You gotta go before someone see us, Mewis, otherwise you'll blow the whole operation and get me in huge trouble!"

But the blonde isn't impressed at all: rather, she grabs the collar of my t-shirt with one hand, and I see a knife held under my throat with the other, her eyes throwing daggers at me. I hold my breath, in shock.

Raising my hands shortly after, I just hear her out:

"Listen very closely, you useless piece of garbage: I know you've been there for three days straight, so you can't possibly tell me you haven't found shit! Especially since the sheriff seems to believe you're the best at what you do."

"I told you: whoever the killer is, they know how to cover their tracks" I say, feeling my breathing becoming more and more complicated. But Kristie doesn't release her grip, as I continue: "All I know is that Kelley O'Hara has been put in police custody, and that the sheriff is questioning her with FBI agents..."

"Is one of the agents called Ali Krieger?" she aggressively asks, annoyed.

"Please, let me go, I-"

"Answer the damn question" Kristie orders, imperturbable. 

"Y-Yes, I've heard the name Ali Krieger before" I lie, hoping that this wasn't a trick question.

"And what about Alex Morgan? Is she linked with the investigation?"

"She might be one of the suspects, but we didn't go this far yet-"

Before I can finish my sentence, a door closes and makes some noise, making both of us jump. Quite immediately, as footsteps were getting closer, Kristie puts her knife inside her pocket, before quickly thinking. 

She then grabs my face between her hands confidentially, staring at me in a very serious and threatening manner, before kissing me wildly. My muffed groans of protest were soon replaced by a huge confusion.

But before I could start and push Kristie away, the latter already leaned back, staring at the laboratory's entrance, where Julie was standing, her mouth slightly open, visibly madder than I have ever seen her.

Kristie proudly exclaims:

"Oops, busted!" and, wrapping et arm around my shoulders, she kisses my lips with insistance, before staring at me and saying: "I'll let you two work, honey, I'll see you tonight, yeah?"

I knew I could only answer:

"O-okay, yeah."

With a content smirk on her face, Kristie walks past Julie, throwing her a defying look, before leaving the police station, leaving me in shock. But the sheriff, who visibly was pretty hurt by what she just saw, just sets her jaw very tightly, burying herself in some sort of punishing silence - or maybe it was her way of processing things.

After a moment, I nervously say:

"Julie, it's not what you think, I-"

"Whatever, Lia" the blonde say, her voice betraying the anger she was feeling inside. Before I can try and explain the situation to her, she just continues: "Who you date is none of my business. What is, though, is if you've found anything about the case yet?"

I have to think quickly.

"Nothing much - other than Alex Morgan might be connected to this case, according to Kristie" I say, before regretting it immediately.

Julie rolls her eyes.

"Since when did you two become a thing?" she shamelessly asks, her eyes throwing daggers at me. 

"We're not, I swear, we-"

"And did you intend to tell me that you've had a change of heart? Is that why you were elusive those past weeks? And why you couldn't say no to my invitation on Friday - because you already have a date?"

I sigh.

"No, Julie, wait: let me explain..." I insist, but gets cut out again:

"I'd really rather not know, to be honest" the blonde hisses, before lowering her voice so that only I could hear her: "You could at least have had the decency to tell me clearly you were interested in someone else: I've told you all about my feelings for you, and you made me believe that somehow I wasn't delusional..."

"You're not, uh... delusional, Julie: Krisite broke into the police station to threaten me with informations about Ali Krieger, and when she saw you arrive, she thought that this would be a good enough diversion. But never in my life would I have lead you on, I promise."

Highly confused, Julie just lets out:

"Oh."

I nod my head slowly, blushing a little. 

"I'm sorry you had to see that..." I apologise, honest.

The sheriff blushes a little, before firmly saying:

"Listen, I really believe it isn't a good idea for us to go down that path: I mean, talking about feelings with someone I work with doesn't seem like a good idea to me, so... We should just go back to being friends. Okay?"

Confused and disappointed, I just answer:

"Okay."

"Alright, call me if you find out anything - and maybe get some sleep, you look like hell."

With that said, the blonde exits the rooms, as my heart breaks a tiny bit: I never will be able to tell her I feel the same as she does...