IN THIS SKIN -- CHICAGO FIRE

46;

Marley had stayed at Adam's apartment that night, and for another night after that. Kelly had been in touch and explained what had happened with Grant, and his story had been corroborated by Trudy when she had gone into work the following day. It wasn't that she didn't trust Kelly to stay at home, if she was being honest, she had become pretty involved in the case that Intelligence was working, and had enjoyed working alongside Mouse. She knew that staying with Adam meant she could spend as much time as him at the unit working, whereas Kelly would have made her try and rest more, or function normally.

She woke up early the next day, before her alarm. It was the sound of Adam in his living room on the phone that had woken him up. He was in the midst of a heated argument with Kim, something that had become a regular occurrence for the couple. Whilst Marley loved them both individually, she couldn't pretend to like them as a couple. They fought too much, and Marley had experienced too many times what fighting would lead to. She had a shower and got herself dressed instead of disturbing him.

Adam had insisted on the pair getting breakfast on their way into work. Marley had agreed and they headed to a local diner for pancakes. There was a few moments of silence when they initially arrived at Lou's Diner. Adam had begun texting on his phone immediately, to Kim she assumed.
"So..."She said, raising her eyebrow as she smirked at the man.
"What?" He asked, looking up from his phone for a second to look at her.
"Things with Kim are going well, then?" She asked, partly sincere but partly in a teasing manner.
"Just peachy, thank you, Marls,"
"Just asking," She defended, raising her hands up. "You just don't seem very happy at the moment, Adam."
"How so?"
"I don't know. I'm probably overstepping-"
"No, go ahead. Say what you need to say. I wanna hear."
"Okay. Just remember I say this with love for you both," the disclaimer left Marley's mouth as Adam put his phone away to give the teenager his attention. "I know that your relationship moved real fast and you both love each other, but you just seem stressed and fed up a lot of the time. You argue and bicker when you're together, you both disagree on everything. And when you're not together you're arguing over the phone. I don't want to see you getting hurt, either of you, and you both just seem like you aren't good at the moment," Adam was silent as he took in what she said. He knew she was right- the pair hadn't been in a healthy relationship for a while and they both knew the end was imminent. There were difficulties with them both working on the same unit now, however, as he knew that Kim would not take a break up well. Marley's anxiety grew with every second. "But what do I know? Ignore me. If you're happy then-"
"No, Marls. You're right. It's just hard to hear." She shot him a soft smile.
"Well, I know I'm just a kid to you but if you need a friend, I'll go for waffles or pancakes whenever."

Adam excused himself to go to the bathroom after they had finished eating. Marley took a moment to put on her leather jacket and put her phone in her purse. In the booth across from her, there was a group of four people. Three boys who she assumed to be around her age, and a girl who she guessed was a similar age too. She hadn't noticed them at first, but their conversation had quietened to a whisper and they were clearly looking at her. She tried not to worry - they looked harmless and Adam was only a shout away, but her anxiety was still present. One of the boys stood from his seat and approached her table.

"Hey," he said softly, looking almost as nervous as she felt. "I know this is really weird, but my name is Nate, those are my friends Jacob, Ben and that's Ji," Marley tried to smile as the three others turned in their seats to face her. "We just wanted to ask what classes you take? We all go to college here and always come for breakfast here but we haven't seen you around."
"Oh, I don't go to college," Marley said nervously.
"Oh, right. Then this is real awkward," Nate laughed, Marley couldn't help but laugh too. She always searched for the bad in people, from her past to her job; it was what she was programmed to do. But these seemed like genuinely nice college kids.
"No, that's okay," She smiled.
"I love your jacket," Ji said, a wide smile on her face, "you look real badass with it on."
"Thank you," she smiled awkwardly, pulling at the sleeves. "I'm Marley, by the way,"
"So are you a senior?" Ben asked, a curious smile on his face.
"Oh, no. I-" Marley paused herself. How could she say that she had a severe mental breakdown, ended up in rehab then was kidnapped and tortured to the point where she was essentially forced to miss a year or leave for good. "I dropped out, I guess."
"See! I knew you were badass." Ji laughed. Marley was grateful they hadn't pried further into her story. "So, is that your boyfriend? Who you were with?"
"No, not at all. He's my... colleague I guess."
"You're a cop?" Jacob asked, shock in his voice. His friends looked at him with confusion on their faces. "What? I saw his badge on his pants."
"Of course you'd be looking at his ass, Jake." Ji teased. "So, you're young to be a cop."
"I'm not, not really. I guess I'm a glorified secretary. I help with the tech side of things in a way. I know the man in charge of a unit and he needed the help, I guess."
"That's so cool." Marley shrugged, it was pretty cool when she thought about it.
"Anyway, when do you finish with your 'not-quite-a-cop' job today? We were going to catch a movie tonight if you wanted to come?" Nate asked. Marley wasn't sure what it was about the group of people that she trusted, but she did. They didn't seem like bad people. She was also growing tired of her best friends being people almost double her age.
"I usually get off around six, if that works?"
"That's perfect. We can go get food before too! What district is it you work at and I can come pick you up?" Ji asked excitedly.
"I work over at the 21st."
"Okay! Perfect. Put your number in my phone," she ordered, handing her iPhone over to Marley, "I'll call or text with the details later?"
"That sounds cool. Thanks for inviting me," Marley said somewhat awkwardly.
"You seem pretty cool." Ben stated, shrugging. Adam emerged from the bathroom, putting his phone away as he did. Taking in the scene before him, he hesitated. Instincts to ensure Marley was safe began to kick in, but he also noticed her body language - she was relaxed. He made the decision to hold back for another minute.