Keeping It in the Family (Linstead)

Chapter 88

Erin hoped that her final sentence hadn't pushed things too far, but she felt like it had needed to be said.

"I know," was all Clementine said. She hugged Erin tightly, which said a lot in itself. She wasn't ready to call Erin mom or Jay dad. Maybe she never would be. As yet, she hadn't expressed love in words either, but Erin could tell that she did feel it. The problem was in expressing it. She imagined Clem possibly felt like crossing those bridges with her adoptive parents would be a betrayal of her birth parents. In time, hopefully she would realise that it wasn't.

"Shall we have a look round?" Erin said gently after a moment, not least because she was freezing standing still.

"Okay," Clementine said, brightening up quickly. She fell in beside Erin and held her hand while they walked. After a couple of minutes, another question came

"Erin? Why do people shoot other people?"

Wow, kids have a way of asking their own kind of tough questions, Erin thought. How to answer took some consideration. "I think you mean why do bad people shoot innocent people?"

"Yes," Clem said quietly, likely thinking of her parents.

"Because they're bad people, Clem. Bad people do bad things. All kinds of bad things. That's why it's important that cops do a good job. Cops have to arrest bad people so that they can't do more bad things."

"Or shoot them."

"Yes, sometimes we have to shoot them," Erin admitted. "But we only shoot them if we absolutely have to. Hey, look at this candy stand."

The candy stand they happened to pass by was enough to distract Clementine and get her focussed on something more positive. Erin breathed a sigh of relief and resolved herself not to let shooting or death to come back into the conversation.

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The next morning, Raquel Gonzalez put on several layers of clothing while getting ready for work. Even more so than the rest of the Intelligence team, she hated the cold weather.

"Why did I most to Chicago from Texas?" she grumbled as she put her coat on, almost ready to leave her apartment.

"Because you hoped to meet me," Zelina Vega said, chewing gum and speaking with the sassiness that was very common for her as she walked into the room.

"Ah, that must have been it. Chicago is a known place to find incredibly hot muñequitas."

"Actually, there's only one here," Zelina said.

"That's true." Raquel leaned down and kissed her, then the conversation got more serious. Ready for a day at the police academy, Zelina had her uniform on. "You know, I'm not happy with you going out dressed like that, with that crazy bastard Styles out there."

"I'll be fine, mami. I'm going to the academy, not out on patrol. I'm not even going to stop anywhere on the way. I'll drive straight there, and tonight I'll drive straight home. Promise."

"Maybe it would still be better if I came with you?"

"You worry too much. Your muñequita can take care of herself."

Raquel kissed her again. "I know you can. Just be careful, okay?"

"Will do. I've got to go. See you tonight, okay? Love you." Zelina stretched up for a third kiss.

"Love you," Raquel said.

With that, Zelina left the apartment, and was soon on the road to the police academy. Her training was going well, although the limited number of days she could put in while also working for Intelligence meant that it was going to be a long process before she graduated as an officer. In all honesty, she just had to be thankfully that Lindsay had been able to get the current arrangement worked out for her.

Feeling like listening to some rap music might fire her up for the day, she waited until she stopped at a red light at an intersection and started connecting her phone to her car's stereo system. The Bluetooth pairing always took a long time to connect in this car for some reason, to her annoyance.

While she waited, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. A man was walking towards her. Before she had much of a chance to process his appearance, she saw him pulling a pistol out of his coat. He was looking right at her, and walking directly towards her car.

Fuck, it's the cop killer, she realised in horror, and he had spotted her uniform. Exactly what Raquel had feared was happening, against all odds. To make matters worse, she wasn't issued with a gun along with her uniform by the academy, so she had no way to defend herself. There were also cars parked in front and behind hers at the light, so she couldn't drive off. There was only one thing she could do in such a short space of time. She had to get out and run.

Scrambling as fast as she could, Zelina moved over to passenger side of the car and got out. Even as she did it, she knew it wasn't going to be fast enough.

Styles had almost reached the car by the time his target got out of the other side of it and started running. He didn't take great aim with his first shot, merely intending to hit her and take her down. He fired, and the little police officer went down, shot in the back. It was almost a shame to kill a pretty little woman, but she was the one who had joined the police.

Walking closer, Styles saw that he had hit the woman in the upper right side of her back, below the shoulder. She was trying to crawl away. It wouldn't matter though. The next round would go in the back of her head. He brought his gun up again.

A gun shot rang out, but not from Styles' weapon. It came from his right hand side. He turned to see a cop running towards him. The cop had fired at him and missed.

"Drop the gun! Get on the floor!" the cop shouted.

Styles had no intention of doing that, or of getting into a straight up gun fight with the police. There was still plenty of distance between him and the cop, so he ran, weaving through the traffic and disappearing into an alleyway.

The cop was presented with a choice. He could either get into a foot pursuit that he had probably already lost through being too far away, or he could help what he believed to be a badly wounded fellow officer. He was already on his radio calling for an ambulance by the time he got to Zelina. Several members of the public also came over.

"Is she dead?" a man asked.

The cop found the victim unconscious, lying in a pool of blood. He checked for a pulse and for signs of breathing. "No, she's not dead, but she's in a bad way. Give me your coat to cover her with."

"Really?" the man selfishly asked, apparently worried about getting blood on his precious coat.

"Yes! Now! Or she is going to die. And get me something I can try to stop this bleeding with. Move!"

The officer was doing his best, but with no sight or sound of the ambulance, Zelina Vega's life was hanging by a thread.

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A/N: Do you think Clementine will call Erin and Jay mom and dad one day?

Will Z survive being shot by AJ Styles? What will happen next?