The Perfect Emma

Chapter Thirty-Four

Grayson Todd

Gray didn't want to be the one to tell Emma that her sneaking here would get him in trouble, but it was true, especially if she decided to keep doing it. He understood that here was the only place she felt safe at all, and he would've been happy to oblige her, if he didn't have Internal Affairs just waiting for an opportunity to ream him in the ass. At this rate, Emma would bring them that on a silver platter.

He had half a mind to call Hannah and tell her she was here himself.

However, Gray had a feeling Zach was already taking care of that. Which was another thing. Gray didn't want his captain getting in trouble too. If Zach kept defending him, IAB might start investigating Zach too. And that just wasn't fair.

Boy this case was a mess.

But that could be worried about tomorrow. As Gray settled himself onto the couch for the second night, he was nearly at face level with the picture of Rosie on the table. With a soft sigh, he reached over and set that one on its face as well. He didn't know if Emma had already seen it, but if she had she hadn't said anything.

It took a bit, but eventually he managed to fall asleep. It wasn't very restful, given he'd gone to sleep worrying, but there was rarely a time his slumber was restful, so it didn't really matter.

As Gray woke up to the sound of his phone going off, he sighed. Time for another long-ass day. He got to his feet and poked his head into the bedroom to wake Emma up. "Hey. Time to wake up."

She stirred a little before blinking at him blearily. "Good morning," she replied with a yawn.

Gray smiled a little, certainly noticing that, despite her insisting not to sleep in the bed, she seemed awfully comfortable. "Good morning."

Not wanting to bother her further than that, he grabbed new clothes from his closet and exited the room again, to get dressed in the bathroom. He ran his fingers through his hair and straightened his tie, before returning to the main room. Emma was there, dressed as well, though this time it was easy to see her as herself now that she was blonde again. It was...a relief, to be honest. And she probably felt better looking like herself too. She was Emma; not Emily.

And not Rose for that matter, either.

"Ready?" he asked, moving for his shoes and jacket by the door.

"Mm-hm," she murmured in response. She sounded a little anxious about something, and Gray couldn't blame her. She already didn't like going into the PD, and now she was going in after having ditched her apartment and bodyguards.

Hell, Gray was anxious going into work today. If he'd been in hot water before, he was scalding now, and he knew it. Neither of them were going to be very happy to see Agent Westbrook today,

"Can we get breakfast again?" Emma asked as Gray opened the front door and gestured for her to exit.

"Sure," he replied, following her out and shutting the door behind them, locking it. "We've got time."

That seemed to make her happy, and Gray smiled. After everything she had endured, it was good to see her happy. It was just...unfortunate that Grayson was the only one that could do that for the moment, at least in the sense that IA didn't like it. Hopefully today Hannah would realize she didn't have a choice if she wanted Emma's cooperation, and would leave Gray alone.

Of course, that was wishful thinking.

After getting breakfast, and with another glorious pun from the cashier girl—"See you latte~!"—the pair of them started for the police department. Gray noticed that Emma was still a little anxious, and she kept glancing at him every so often. Gray got a feeling that this was more than just being nervous in a building full of cops.

He was going to ask if she was okay, when she spoke up instead. "Can...I ask you something...?"

Grayson furrowed his brows a little in confusion. "Of course you can," he replied, almost amused that she would ask that. "Why, what's up?"

Emma fiddled with the muffin wrapper in her hands for a second, staring at it. Now that she'd already opened her mouth, Gray wasn't going to let her back out, and she looked like she knew that. "Um....Who....Who's the lady?"

Gray's stomach dropped a little. Oh no. "Uh, what....What lady?" he responded, shaking his head as if he didn't know what she was talking about.

But he definitely had a feeling he did.

"Th–the one in...in the picture?"

Yup.

She'd seen it.

Shit.

"Uhh...." Grayson muttered, avoiding her gaze. This....This wasn't something he wanted to talk about. "She's...."

Emma must've seen that her question had elicited a somewhat negative reaction. She stared pointedly at her lap and said quickly, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked."

Though Gray definitely wished she hadn't, he wouldn't tell her that she shouldn't have. It...was a valid question. "No, it's fine," he told her, shaking his head. "Just...caught me off guard. Um...." Welp, she'd asked, he had to explain it now.

Grayson sighed, gathering his thoughts and his words, while attempting to remain neutral—as opposed to sad. "The woman in the picture, she's...." he started, concentrating on the road to keep himself focused. "Her name was Rosie. She, uh. She was...." Gray couldn't bring himself to say the words "my wife" or "was killed". Even after seven long years, it still hurt. "She was close to me," he settled upon. "A long time ago."

"Oh," Emma murmured, frowning and looking a little sad. "Can...I ask what happened?" she added, looking up at him.

She could ask, but he didn't really want to answer. He was glad to see that her confidence was slowly coming back, but he kind of wished she wasn't exercising it like this. Of course, if he wanted her to keep getting her confidence back, shutting her down wouldn't help. Gray sighed softly. "She died," he responded quietly. Mustering up his own courage, he continued, "She was killed, actually." He clutched at the steering wheel a little tighter in an attempt to keep his emotions in check.

Emma's face changed. She looked at him in surprise, and in horror, before returning her gaze to her lap. "I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't....I didn't know, I...."

"It's okay," he told her softly, pulling into the LAPD parking lot. "You didn't know. I'm not mad at you. It's just...not easy to talk about."

"I'm sorry," Emma apologized again. She kept her eyes down, as if afraid to look at him.

Gray reached over and touched her shoulder, giving a reassuring smile. "Emma, it's....You don't need to apologize. Relax. Let's head in; yeah?"

She nodded, looking a small bit reassured, but still guilty for asking. Soon enough, however, they were both going to forget about it; when Agent Westbrook was scolding them.