To Protect and Serve (Chicago PD / Antonio Dawson Fanfic)

Kim

"Are you just going to sit there and let a patrol man talk to me like that?" April asks Arbor. She emphasizes patrol man. What a total bitch this girl is.

Arbor looks at me in the rear view then says to April, "Hell yeah I am. You're being a total bitch for no reason. Shut your mouth, Ashford before I shut it for you. Got it?"

April rolls her eyes and turns to look out her window. Arbor makes eye contact with me again in the rear view and winks.

I smile in reply, nonverbally thanking her for sticking up for me. Arbor is a great girl to work with. I can see why everyone is taking a liking to her.
We now pull into the High School and hop out of the cars.

"I'll see you ladies at lunch." Ashford states and stomps off toward the school, leaving Arbor and I behind.

"Hey, Kim," Arbor says softly as we make our way to the school. "Don't let April get to you. She's a piece of work. This killer killed her brother back in 2012 and ever since then, she's been obsessed with finding him."

"Thanks." I say shyly. "But if the killer targeted her brother, why is she undercover with us?" I think about it. If this guy knows what April looks like, won't he want to turn and run the other way?

Arbor looks forward as we walk. "I'm hoping that if he's here and sees us with her, it'll make him inclined to try to target one of us. This guy is all about the torture leading up to the kill. If he's as obsessed with April now as he was before, we're good bait."

I swallow hard at her words. Thinking about the fact that it's really probable that this guy is going to kidnap Arbor or I makes my skin crawl.

"Don't worry, Kim." Her voice brings me out of my thoughts. "We're all going to be just fine and we're gonna take this guy out."

I nod in agreement and put on a fake smile. "Yeah, we are."

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I'm sitting at 'my' desk when the students come in. All the adolescent boys have their eyes glued on me as they take their seats.

"Hi, everyone!" I say enthusiastically as I stand up and go to write 'my' name on the board. "My name is Ms. Jones and I'm substituting for the next week." I smile at them. "Now I wasn't left with much instruction, so can you guys tell me what you're working on in this class?"

A girl with light brown hair and dark rimmed glasses raises her hand. I nod my head towards her and point.

"We're reading 'To Kill A Mockingbird' and our teacher usually asks us question on the reading. This class is a discussion class."

Ah, discussion class. Great. Just great. I read that book back in high school and don't remember a damn thing about it.

"And do you mind summarizing what you read last night for me?" I ask the teen girl.

She nods and explains that they read about the court case.

We go on for the rest of class to talk about the case and racism and all the other stuff I could come up with off the top of my head. I'm lucky that IMPROV is like a calling for me.

Before I know it, it's time for lunch.
I practically race to the teacher's lounge to meet up with Arbor and April. We all grab lunch and go to the room that Arbor has for the week to talk.

"So did anyone notice anything off yet?" She asks April and I.

I shake my head and April does the same thing. "How about you? Have you noticed anything that seems odd?"

Arbor nods her head. "My ex boyfriend, Daniel." She inhales a shaky breath. "He's working as a janitor here. Even though he has been working as a reporter for the Sun Times for the last two years."

"Didn't you say that our killer hasn't done anything in the last two years?"

Arbor nods. "Daniel wasn't the best guy, but he's not a killer. He can't be. I was with him for over a year. I should know if he's a killer." She shakes her head now, thinking hard. "He's not."

"Arb, if he's our killer, I need to back out. He knows me." April states worried.

I shake my head. "No, you can't back out. He knows you and maybe that's what we need. If he knows that you are working this case, maybe that'll piss him off enough to try to take one of us. He doesn't know if you're working solo or with people."

"Kim's right." Arbor tells April. "We need to stick to this. We're going to catch whoever killed Gavin. Okay?" She puts a hand on April's shoulder.

April nods and swallows back some tears. "Let's catch this bastard."