--
Nothing ever settles too long though, especially in the life of a cop who chooses to become tangled in the DIU.
For several days, the blonde did her own investigating into the case surrounding the Red X Cartel, although benched. And for hours and hours she poured over case files and photos and whatever relating documents there were to support the crimes conducted by those heartless dealers. Names showed up, of course. Familiar names like Mario and Silvio. But by the second week a glint of gold changed the whole chain of events.
After perusing the cast offs; in other words, documents and photos that perhaps seemed irrelevant at the time of the investigation, Samantha discovered a photo that puzzled her. At first, what caught her eye was the presence of a dark haired woman that incredibly resembled no other than Adriana. She was older though, with crow's feet next to each eye and sagging, sallow cheeks. And this mysterious woman was standing around the table entertaining familiar faces of drug dealers like: Silvio. Within half an hour, she was waiting impatiently in a barred off room somewhere in the Lincoln Correctional Facility. When Silvio was dragged in, hands and feet shackled, the two of them acknowledged each other.
"If it isn't the Swan that sings," was his greeting. The officer chucked him onto the chair. "You here for why? To make me sing too?"
"Do you remember this woman?" Samantha pressed the photo onto the dusty table before him. "Had to be two years ago. You're right there next to her."
Those bloodshot brown eyes studied the scene and the smile slowly disappeared from his face. Dark hair wild already, Silvio stared in disbelief at the blonde. "You bring her here. Into my life. Even though I curse her grave?" his eyes were bulging now. "I been praying she dies. Demon."
"Who is she?" Samantha leaned over the table and gripped the edges hard enough. "Give me a name, Silvio."
"La reina," was all he whispered. "Cora Mills. She set me up, Swan. She threatened my family. I came here. From Mexico. With my boy and my wife. She gave me easy work. Said it's no big deal. Just do one job and I'm out. Next thing I know, I'm holding a gun and I gotta choose my son's life over four men. I shoot them. I can't kill my boy."
The injustice of this world, the blonde thought. "Is she the Queen of Hearts?" Samantha was feeling a weight lifting off her chest. "Cora Mills?"
"Si," he nodded like an obedient child. "La reina is Adriana's madre. Her mother. She wants her daughter dead. Look. I am glad I am here. And not outside. If I was outside she has control of me. Me being in here means my wife and boy is safe. You know?"
"I got it," Samantha said absentmindedly. For this new pieces of information was of course, incredibly satisfying to behold. Not only providing so much clarity to by introducing another player onto the board, but also by clearing Adriana's name completely.
By the time she was racing out of there to meet Andrew at a café just around the corner from the precinct, Samantha's heart was racing. Her soul was bursting at the seams and unravelling into a whole new world of pleasing results.
"You can get a statement from him," Swan told Jones moments after. "Silvio confirmed all of it. Who would have believed that it's her own mother?"
"I'm so blown away right now," he collected the photo carefully from her grasp, almost as if it was a billion dollars worthy. "This is impressive work, Samantha. Think of how Danes would bite his own tongue if he ever found out that this was your doing."
"I don't want to rub it in at this point," she confessed. Samantha sipped some coffee and scowled. "Eew. What the hell is this? Poison?"
"I suppose..." he snorted. "Oh before I forget." Reaching into his breast pocket, Jones fished out piece of paper. He handed it to the blonde with a sympathetic smile. "Adriana's. Don't ask me how on earth I managed to get it. Just keep it and use it whenever you're ready."
Green eyes rested on a telephone number scrawled on the paper. Immediately, her heart softened. Because since they last talked to each other, Samantha wished more than ever that she could discover some way to contact the older woman. Now, though, as she held the link between them, matters seemed far too uneasy to approach this path. However, sliding the paper into her pants pocket, she smiled at him and nodded.
"You're the best, Andrew. I mean it."
"Between me and you," Jones said softly, leaning a little across the table. He was bashful all of a sudden. "That night when I told you that Adriana escaped from interrogation, well..." He scratched the top of his head and barely looked at her.
Samantha, of course, was confused. "What did you do, Andrew?"
"Well," he shrugged and licked his lips. "I kind of passed her the key. Whatever else happened after then..."
She grabbed his hand, green eyes huge as saucers. "Dude, you let her go?"
When Jones merely offered her the same bashful look, Swan sighed and ran fingers through her hair. Both of them half smiled, whilst she grasped his hand further and attempted to show some gratitude that couldn't quite be expressed in words.
--
The new case spread out in the form of pages of notes and photos upon the blonde's desk was substantially frustrating after a minimum amount of three days. And divulging in cups of coffee wasn't entirely her preference as compared to cocoa. That's why, Samantha guiltily slipped in and out of the precinct like a shadow trying avoid to looming likes of Danes around every corner.
Swan was in possession of a guilty mind that easily wandered to affairs of the heart. Of knowing that these things were forbidden. But still hoping that there were certain crimes which could be pardoned. After living for twenty eight years without a single inclination towards the same gender, here she was perhaps falling into a dangerously intoxicating abyss. Where her entire body, soul and mind rested on one person. One woman who had intrigued and disarmed her of knowing what was normal and not normal.
Pushing the details of the newest drug nest invasion away from her, Samantha rose up and stretched. This was so frustrating, she thought. To strain her attention onto something that didn't seem necessary. Or didn't coax the least amount of energy from her conscience. That is why eventually those green eyes roamed the lawns behind the NYPD main building where stone benches served as resting places for officers on lunch. Pleasing enough as the setting appeared, Samantha denied the longing to drift out there like a zombie. And choosing instead to stretch out on the two cushioned settee in the corner of the office, after five minutes the blonde slipped into a deep, dreamless sleep.
The pulsing vibrating phone roused her after three hours had dragged by successfully without any interruptions. Samantha, still disoriented, dug into the pocket of her pants and retrieved the mobile.
"Jordan," Neal's frantic and breathless voice greeted her. "Do you have him? Is he with you?"
"What?" Swan immediately fell into the depths of panic. "No. I don't have him. I thought you were supposed to pick him up from school."
"When I got there, he wasn't there," Cassidy explained, as worry seeped into his tone. "I searched everywhere. Samantha. I found his teacher. I talked to her and he wasn't in the school. I checked around the area. Got August to help me. But he's nowhere in sight."
She was already grabbing the keys to her yellow bug and on the way out, Samantha snatched up her red leather jacket. Never had Jordan done anything like this before. If he wanted to hang out with one of the other boys, he called her first. They always maintained that kind of bond with each other. Regardless of where he was or where she happened to be. And now there was a gut instinct slowly developing that frightened her more than ever.
Andrew, heading in after dropping home Andy, bumped into the blonde and after being informed about the disappearance of the kid, he joined in on the search. But after an hour of sweeping the area from alleyway to inside shops and asking around, their minds were thrown into a frantic frenzy and Samantha couldn't control her tears. There was no way in hell he could be missing. But he was missing. She couldn't find him. And even though Neal tried to console her, and Andrew promised that they would resume the search, nothing could soothe Samantha's frustration.
It wasn't until she was fumbling with the red scarf around her neck when the mobile rang again. Desperate for some kind of information from Jordan, Swan answered in Andrew's presence.
"Samantha Swan." The purposeful tone laced with as much poison to kill was enough to unsettle the blonde. It was a woman. "We have your son. Now be like the darling you are and do exactly as I say if you want him back. He is such a sweet child."
Turning on SPEAKER MODE, Samantha threw Andrew a bewildered look. "I want you to place all the charges relating to the Red X Cartel on Adriana Mills. This means, the murder of Machavano, and all murders relating to his death. I also want you to ensure that she gets imprisoned. Only then will you see your son again. And don't worry, we'll take good care of him. Unless you interfere further. Leave the Red X Cartel alone and stop digging."
When the line went dead, both of them stared at each other. For a few seconds, merely silence existed. Vehicles passed them by at either a slow crawl or a hurried pace. People heading out for a night on the town drifted by, decked out in their party attire. Laughter. Chatter. Smiles and everything else that would suggest them being engaged in the most delightful mood ever. Except for the panic like a ticking bomb ready to explode in Samantha's chest.
"We need to take this to the Chief," was Jones first words.
"No," the blonde turned away. "I can't be anywhere near the case. He's already blacklisted me."
"Samantha, listen to me," Andrew steered her closer with an arm around slumped shoulders, "this is not just about the cartel! This is about Jordan being kidnapped. You're being threatened to indict someone wrongfully. Because it is evident now that Adriana isn't the mastermind behind all of the chaos. Where are you going?" he stared in disbelief as Swan began to retreat from the conversation. "Wait up! Come on man." Andrew hopped into her path and stopped Samantha from taking any further steps.
"Look," the blonde began in a shaky tone, "I'm not going into the NYPD to report my own kid being abducted when I'm one of the same cops who'll have to go out there," she gestured onto the street, "to find him. I'm going to do what I know to get Jordan back."
"Okay, well I already know," Andrew reminded her, holding up his hands in defense. "I am equipped with enough information to take this to the Chief myself."
"You do that," Swan nodded, clearly frustrated and angry, not with him but with whoever the hell had snatched Jordan. "I'm going to use that number you gave me. Whether Adriana likes it or not. I need answers."
An hour after as the night transformed the city into clubs wrapped in pulsating colors, to an increase in the nighttime frenzy, the blonde found herself facing a dead end. After ringing the brunette's number almost fifty times, she completely gave up hope on reaching the older woman. Perhaps she had ditched her mobile. Maybe it was probably in a clump of bushes or inside a trashcan. Who knows? All Swan was aware of, was that time had been eaten up with no answers or clues as to where Jordan might be.
Andrew accompanied her to the old Craver's Fisheries where drug dealers built their nests. None of them were willing to comply with two cops who seemed on the verge of beating them into a pulp. So they finally led them to a guy by the name of Dusty who obviously had nothing to lose. Sitting on a trashcan, with his grey hair growing out into a fuzzy bush, the guy looked like the human version to a lion. He willingly fed them enough information though about Adriana's mother.
"I don't work for the Red X Cartel no more because of her," Dusty said. He puffed on his cigarette and stared up into the night sky. "She is a fucking demon. She has her turf and other drug dealers have theirs. And if they ever cross her turf, dead bodies show up. Night or day. Thank the fucking moon I'm just a user. That's how I know who's who. Word gets around."
"If the Red X Cartel kidnaps somebody, do you have any idea where they would take them?" Andrew asked as Samantha was pacing around the dilapidated building with an agitated look upon her face.
"Hmm, a whole bunch of places that ain't got life in them no more," Dusty provided with a frown. "Last month, Alex got shoved into a pit down by the docks. One of those boats. Another time, this other guy went down an attic. It varies. If you're looking for someone they have, then you got to get into the head of someone inside the cartel. In the Red X, everybody knows everything. Whether you're a small rat or a big fish. You know something. They don't have walkie talkies. They move on word of mouth. So like if I know you, and I'm just small drug dealer, I can call you up and ask what's up. That's how it goes. Once you're in, you get the juice on everything."
Andrew's eyes met Samantha's green ones and something passed between them. She pleaded with him to detach himself from Dusty. Evidently, there was something important to be discussed. So ending the conversation with a friendly thank you, Jones jogged over to where the blonde stood wringing her hands.
"What if I do as they say?" Samantha invaded his space immediately. "What if I put all the blame on her and she takes the fall?"
"Are you insane?" Andrew couldn't believe her words. He stared at her.
"I don't care right now about anyone else but Jordan. He's my kid," the blonde reminded him as tears clouded her vision. "Right now, nothing else matters."
"Samantha, you really can't be that daft to wrongfully indict Adriana when we both know now that she might be completely innocent..."
"But what if she did all those things?" Swan asked him bare facedly. "What if she lied and lied to save herself. And instead of having her fucking life threatened because she doesn't have a kid, I'm facing the consequences? All because I know her? All the things she told me could be a lie. Maybe she doesn't like me. Maybe she doesn't even want me in her life. Maybe she's a trained liar who got into my head and is making me believe that she actually feels the same way about me."
"Samantha," Andrew, regardless of how rigid her body had become, slowly enveloped the terribly conflicted blonde into his arms.
"I hate how she makes me feel," Samantha cried as tears overwhelmed her. Chest shaking from sobs that threatened to suffocate her, Swan allowed herself to be hugged. "I hate how weak she makes me feel when I'm around her. I hate that she has so much control over me, that I don't even have control over my job anymore. And now they have my kid, all because I connected myself to her."
"Stop claiming that you hate her," Andrew said softly, caressing to top of her head gently. "Because you really don't. Samantha. This is what doubt feels like. This is what clearly occurs when you're so much in love with someone that anything that goes wrong, evidently the blame rests on them. You end up blaming them for the weather or missing the bus. And it's ridiculous because it's your mind fighting against your heart right now."
"But she made them take my kid away from me," the blonde croaked.
"She didn't do any such thing," Jones said. "She didn't make them take Jordan. Deep down inside, you know that's not true."
"I want it to stop," Samantha bunched up her fists and sniffed. "I wish I never met her."
"Well that's not for you to decide, I'm afraid," Andrew frowned. "When two persons are meant to collide, it happens whether they want to accept it or not. Now it all depends on you. Is she a blessing or a curse? You will soon find out."
After protesting with her to grab something to eat, Samantha eventually gave in. And whilst he regrettably abandoned her inside a diner very near the precinct, Jones returned to work to orchestrate a search party. It wasn't surprising that volunteers within the NYPD joined the squad to comb the area and any building for Jordan's whereabouts. Cops in the department highly respected and favored Swan over Savory because Samantha treated them with the utmost respect and love. She listened to them. She comforted them. She always had their backs.
Even Savory hastily began to tap into transmission feeds, trying to catch something on the radio signals. Somewhere along the line, maybe wires would become crossed and a cryptic message might pop up. In whichever way she could manage, Samantha's biggest rival pitched in to help because she always had a soft spot for Jordan. Everyone did. He was the kind of kid who flitted around the department, asking innocent questions and giving everyone no other option than to love him. After finishing up on her cheese burger though, the blonde suddenly stopped in the middle of the pavement amongst passing people. There it was. That feeling she had reveled in for a long time after Neal had left her with a broken heart. The emptiness. The coldness in the pit of her abdomen that could possibly floor her in the middle of everyone. The feeling of being cornered and not knowing where the hell to go. Of what to do next.
When she wandered aimlessly into somewhere that her mother would have been absolutely proud of, the blonde's mind was by then floating somewhere far away from New York city. It was the Saint Mary's Catholic Church. The only church of its kind in the Bronx that welcomed people from all walks of life, including prostitutes, drug dealers and other skanks as her fellow colleagues labelled them as. Somewhere that seemed like a place where no judgment pinned you down, where the priests and nuns did not cast out broken people but comforted them. All in the hopes of giving everyone a second chance at life to expel their hurt and pain without struggling by themselves.
In there, Swan pulled herself into a pew and settled down, with tears in those green eyes. There could be no more pain, could there? Not much more emptiness in this world. In her world. Doubt. And knowing not where to go.
A beautiful unity of voices emanated from the altar. Men and women of all races joined together with smiles on their faces as they belted out the chorus to 'I'll Never Find Another You' by The Seekers.
Samantha, already completely cramped from devastation, discovered that the pleasant countenances and wonderfully symphonized choir eventually erased the anxiety bit by bit. Now, the most glorious thing happened to her that night. Something that possibly returned her belief in angels. As a kid, the blonde used to wonder about those godly creatures walking the face of the earth. In the confinements of public schools as the awkward kid, there was no space for comfort. And every single Sunday when she was younger, before the age of eighteen, Samantha used to go to church. That same church in fact. Why? Just to sit there during Sunday Masses and listen to the nuns sings. Because evidently, their voices blended into beautiful songs that uplifted her broken soul. Their smiles were so contagious. They carried no burdens.
Four nuns dressed in white and blue habits were lined off on a bench a few feet away from where Swan sat, hanging her head in displeasure. How glorious it was that coincidentally, one of women reared her head as if someone had called out to her. Someone who was fighting to keep her sanity. And in just a few minutes, Sister Maria, an East Indian woman in her late forties with the kindest brown eyes, seated herself beside Samantha.
"If I can say," the nun began in the softest tone that pulled the blonde out of her cloud of doubt, "I believe that we've met before. A very long time ago. I remember a little blonde girl who used to come to church every Sunday." Of course, Swan was intrigued now. "She used to sit right there," Sister Maria gestured to the pews on the eastern side of the cathedral. "And she would become so happy when we sang our songs. Was that you?"
Bewildered that the older woman could even remember something so distant in the past, Samantha nodded. "I think it could be me, yeah."
"I thought you told me that you wanted to be a Sister of Charity?" Sister Maria laughed. "You wanted to help the children who couldn't look after themselves. Now you are a police officer." The nun gently took Samantha's hand into hers and smiled. Her gesture was of course, comforting. "It's not a bad job. You catch all the bad people."
"I do." Samantha licked her lips and strained a smile.
"But do you know that even bad people have so much good inside of them?" Sister Maria sat back and couldn't tear her gaze away from the blonde's face. "They are led astray."
"Right now, I feel as if I'm a really bad person that has a lot of bad things happening to her," Samantha confessed. "I just feel like I've done something recently that made...God," she couldn't believe her sudden faith in Him, "angry at me. And now I'm being punished for it."
"God doesn't ever punish us. He waits on us to ask for forgiveness. If you believe that something bad was done, then all you have to do is pray."
"Maybe I've just given up hope in prayers," Swan settled back into the bench and sighed.
"Never stop believing in prayer," Sister Maria said softly. "If you could pray now with me, what would you ask God to do for you?"
For a few seconds, Samantha replayed the question over and over in her mind and couldn't believe the depth of it. What would she ask God to do? To find help her find her kid, of course. But she couldn't tell the nun that. It could raise suspicion. He was kidnapped. She wasn't exactly in a situation to discuss anything further apart from that. And deep down inside her heart, Samantha realized that there was something else. Something that had been killing her every single minute of every single day.
"I recently met this person," she began, never deciding to provide a name eventually. "And she's making me question every single thing I've ever believed in in my entire life."
"Let's call this woman...X," the kind nun proposed with a small smile.
"X..." Samantha played along, "has done bad things in her past. But since I've met her, she doesn't seem like a bad person at all. At first I was like totally standoffish. I didn't believe that she could be so..." She struggled to find a word.
"Honest?" Sister Maria provided. "Genuine?"
"Yeah. Genuine. She doesn't hold back how she feels. She's the kind of woman who tells you whatever it is she's feeling, without being afraid. And for me, I've never met a person like that. Someone who can be so open about themselves and what they want."
"And that scares you."
Swan nodded with her eyes downcast. "It scares me because all my life, all I've ever wanted is for someone like her to love me. I always wanted...this one person who wouldn't be afraid to show me their flaws. So that I can feel comfortable enough to show them my flaws."
"Are you at peace with your flaws?"
"You mean if I've owned up to what I've done and realized that all of that makes me...unique?" Samantha asked as their eyes met. "Yeah I have. I really have."
"I will be honest here," Sister Maria began in a gentle tone, "and I will tell you that there is more. You are not telling me what is the core of the problem. And that is alright. You don't have to tell me. But sometimes, it is best to talk to a stranger who speaks to God."
Samantha laughed, because the idea of proceeding with the truth and believing that a nun would pray for her seemed ludicrous. "What if I told you that I'm in love with X?"
For a few seconds, Sister Maria merely considered those green eyes. Perhaps she wished to prolong the agony of keeping Samantha in suspense. To have the blonde await the verdict. On being judged.
"Our God, is a God of love. If you are in love with a woman, then I will not sit here and try to persuade you to feel otherwise. That is not my job. My job is to remind you that you are the way you are because God has molded you to become this woman. All the choices you made in your life led you to this point. This is a test, just as any other decision. What is important is for you to pray and ask God to help you make the right decision."
"I don't think God will listen to me."
"Why?"
Samantha shrugged. "Because these feelings I have are not exactly moral."
"If Jesus came through that door right now," Sister Maria pointed at the side entrance. Green eyes followed. "And he came up to us and he sat down next to you. And you tell him that you are terribly wounded and conflicted because you are in love with another woman. What do you think he will do?"
For once in her life, the blonde stared towards the entrance that was black as the night. And she thought about religion a little more than after so many years.
"He will not get up from here and leave you," Sister Maria said in a calm tone. "He will reassure you that love is love. And if you care about someone so much that you are willing to forgive them for their flaws which are their sins, then you are by all means a very good person."
They sat in silence for some time. The choir was still singing, and moving through a verse of 'Ave Maria'. And as Samantha remained where she was, the entirety of the situation began to fit together like a puzzle. When her world had been falling apart, just the thought of having someone above all things like a superhero up in the clouds, using all the influence there was to help in any way possible; it was enough to soothe her worry.
"I want to pray with you," Sister Maria said, taking both of the blonde's hands into hers. And after Swan nodded, both of their eyes fluttered close. "Dear Jesus, in your name and your father's, I ask that you forgive this young woman for not believing in her worth. For doubting herself. I ask you to bless her mind, body and soul so that she can feel uplifted and spirited enough to go forward in life. I also ask that you help her make this difficult decision in her life. I want you to show her a sign. Lead her in the right direction." The nun gently squeezed Samantha's hand. "Would you like to add a few words?"
Samantha, at first, was terrified to even speak to someone who she had forgotten for so long. Now though, her eyes closed once more and she cleared her throat. "Dear God, can you just help me right now? I need more than I have to give. And..." she didn't want to add the rest, but concluded with, "...if she's the one, can you really show me a sign? I'm ready to give up on her."
"Thank you," Sister Maria said after the prayer.
Of course, Samantha stared at her. "For what? I should thank you. I didn't do anything."
"You did do something," the nun proclaimed in a soft tone with a smile attached. "You proved to me that love will always conquer hate. And our God is a God of love."
After the nun had departed to join her colleagues, the blonde pulled herself up from the bench and left the church with a willpower that she had lacked before. There was a newfound energy in her stride. Samantha's mind felt clearer. But Jordan was still missing and she couldn't feel less worried because of that. Why would a mother feel relieved at that point? Most of her life was spent within a Catholic school manned by nuns many years ago. The kind of nuns that ruled with a strict hand. None of them ever seemed open minded about sinners and anything immoral. In fact, Sister Maria happened to be nicest one she had ever come across. Unless, after their conversation, the nun probably returned to her friends to lament about the sinner she had encountered. Then they would take out their rosaries and pray for Samantha's soul to be saved from the pits of hell.
Regardless though, she didn't feel harbored by all the pain and doubt anymore. At least some good came out of their conversation.
For two hours, Andrew and another cop drove around town beating down doors and strangers on red alert. Throughout the search, Swan was in the backseat or doing a bit of punching on her own, hoping that a few faces could be rearranged if possible. Because a mother's bond with her kid is the strongest of all connections. And if she had to kick a hundred men's asses to get Jordan back, then she would by all means do it.
During the ride, however, there was a moment when she just found herself gazing up into the velvet sky sprinkled with twinkling stars. Her head lolled sideways as the car rocked through the streets of the Bronx and it was during that minute when Samantha suddenly realized how tiny her existence was in a world so beautiful and huge. Like a grain of sand, she was part of something so extraordinary and every single worry that had been burdening her down, seemed like a small dot on the canvas of life.
"Give me a sign," Samantha said to herself in the backseat whilst Andrew and Barry chatted. "A message. A phone call. Anything. God. Please."
"Said something there, Swan?" Andrew asked. Their eyes met in the rearview mirror.
"Nah," she shook her head, feeling foolish about asking someone she hadn't talked to in years for assistance.
Why should loving someone become such a difficult circumstance?
If Sister Maria was right, and God is all about love, then why the heck was she beating herself up about the four letter word? It wasn't about being in love with a woman that must have scared her, Samantha began to realize. But it was the consequences. Like Andrew had mentioned, entertaining Jordan in that kind of life. Could she even introduce her religious parents who worshiped the Bible to a woman as her partner? Could she conjure up the willpower to comfortably make appearances with a woman and her affections in public around strangers who would cast judgmental glances?
When Andrew parked the patrol car in front of a beat up motel, the blonde didn't follow him in. She settled into the backseat and those green eyes trailed his footsteps alongside Barry, the other officer who had joined in the search. What on earth could she do at that point? After questioning their undercover sources buried deep within the drug trade in the Bronx, the only information that leaked out was what they were already equipped with. What was she supposed to do now? Wait and hope that Jordan would come running through the dark and into her arms?
Suddenly, her mobile began to vibrate. And groaning, already fearing another warning from the kidnapper, the blonde answered.
"Miss Swan," came the hoarse quality of that familiar voice.
When Samantha absorbed the caller's identity, she gasped. "Adriana? It was really her. The actuality of the moment kind of crippled Swan.
"Yes, dear," the brunette said softly. Her voice caressed the younger woman's heart. "How are you? I simply had to call. You must forgive me. This is of course, going against your wishes for us to avoid each other but..."
"I wanted more than ever for you to call me. Or find me," Samantha confessed, as her tone dipped a little. Tears clouded those green eyes. And she couldn't believe it. Swan absolutely could not believe that her prayer had been answered. So easily. When all she had to do was ask.
"I know where to find you," Adriana admitted with a soft chuckle. "But I'm afraid I can't place one boot into the NYPD at the moment."
"True," Samantha laughed nervously. She felt as if her heart would explode. Her hands began to sweat. The car suddenly felt extremely hot although a nice cool wind was blowing around outside.
There was silence however. Something that didn't feel really uncomfortable between them. But spoke volumes. She was now aware of the magnitude of the other woman's effect on her; mind, body and soul. The depth of their bond. And then suddenly, when she heard a distinct sob on the other end, her heart shattered like glass.
"Adriana?" Samantha struggled to breathe. "Are you okay?"
"No," the brunette croaked on the other end, obviously losing her composure. "I'm falling apart. I really am not aware of how long more I will be granted to stay alive since my death warrant has been issued. And the only woman who could make me feel considerably less alone in this broken state, obviously hates me."
"I don't hate you," Swan said immediately in a strained voice, as tears slipped down her cheeks. The pale moonlight reflected upon the glass on the windows of the building not too far away.
"Then why are you keeping us apart?" Adriana wanted to know. "Why are you choosing to ignore how you feel about me? And don't deny any of it. Please don't do that to me. From the moment I met you, I could literally sense the attraction between the two of us. Growing and blossoming. I detested it at first," the brunette admitted in a hoarser tone. "and I never willed to see you again. However, as fate provided, our paths crossed. You showed up at the church and our meeting...again...provided me with enough clarity to believe that I could be falling in love with you."
Curling into the seat, the blonde squeezed her eyes shut and hung onto every single word being said over the phone.
"I am completely in love with you, Miss Swan," Adriana confessed in a broken voice that was laced with pain. "And the reason why I called you tonight is to ask you one question. I want to know desperately if you would give me a chance. Will you? I cannot promise anything at this point because I am not certain of what the future holds for me. But just knowing that you would give me a chance to prove how much I love you, is all I can wish for."
"Adriana..." the blonde whispered through trembling lips.
"I could be dead by tomorrow," the brunette hit her with the harsh truth. "I'm in a safe house that is easily penetrable by my mother who wants to kill me. I mean nothing to her. And when I sit here in solace over the past few days, when I think of my life, I am reduced to nothing but broken pieces. But when I think of you, I am hopelessly happy. But if I cannot have you, then there is no reason for me to remain in here. In the Bronx."
"Where will you go?" Samantha completely avoided the painful question. Her heart was by then, lying motionless in within an aching chest.
Dead silence.
The blonde began to cry. And as soft sobs filled the interior of the car, a light rain began to wet the still, cold night. "I'm sorry," she said in a frustrated tone. "I really am. I don't mean to sound so heartless. But right now, I'm so lost. I have no idea what I'm supposed to do. My son's been kidnapped. Adriana." She buried her face into the caramel colored cushion and fought to breathe. "Jordan. Someone took him."
"What?" Adriana said through tears. "Who took your son?" She sniffed on the other end.
"Someone from the Red X Cartel. A woman called me a few hours ago and told me that..."
"Samantha," Adriana interrupted, in what perhaps was a firmer tone. "Please. Don't say anymore on the line. I know where your son is. But I need to see you. Immediately."
"Where are..." but she couldn't expect the brunette to identify her whereabouts over the phone too, could she? "Tell me what to do."
"I need you to return to the place where we had our second date."
"What does that mean?" Samantha was struggling to hold onto her sanity at the moment and could not crack any kind of codes in the midst of it all. "I can't do this, Adriana. I really can't..."
"The place where we almost...kissed," the brunette provided in a strained voice. "I'll send a car for you. She'll bring you to me."
"A...what? Who?" But the line went dead. And in the silence of the night, Samantha felt as if she was lying in the hospital and someone had pulled the plug.
--
What transpired in the next few minutes was evidently an adrenaline spurred period in her life that the blonde never dreamt would occur. It was like one of those promising scenes from an action movie involving spies and cops and getaway cars. Where the very nervous and anxious wide eyed police officer, strips away her blue uniform shirt to gradually expose a black tank in the back seat of a patrol car. Then discarding all sense of the world, and its dangers, that officer now in plain clothes, pelts into the night, daring to cover more than three blocks in the shadows.
It was a quarter to eleven that night when Samantha returned to the same cathedral where Sister Maria had consoled her. By then, not a soul was in sight. The deserted street provided clarity that people where either buried within clubs by then, or nestled in their beds. Where she should be, with Jordan curled up next to her. And now, as the street lamps cast a yellow glow upon the pavement, Samantha slipped around the side of the stone building. Just as she neared the locked door leading into the washroom where they had almost kissed, the blonde heard the soft purr of a car engine not too far away. And rearing her head around a clump of bushes in the garden, Samantha noticed a black car parked on the other side of the church.
Strange enough though, as she cautiously approached the vehicle, the features seemed all too familiar. It wasn't until Swan batted back into her memories when she realized where she had seen it before. That morning, when she was walking Jordan to school. The same car, if she wasn't mistaken, had been following her slowly. Now, the driver who was evidently a woman, pulled half her body through the window on the driver's side.
"Yo," the brunette smiled widely and waved. "Are you Princess Charming?"
She was so tempted to deny the label. But Swan, however, fitted everything together and nodded. "I...guess," she frowned.
"Hop in," the other woman disappeared inside the car that was heavily tinted. The engine revved.
What the hell. Samantha inhaled deeply, kept her fingers crossed and pulled open the door. After she settled herself into the plush seats of the Mercedes Benz, the brunette who was fashionably dressed in red, along with matching red lips and highlights in her hair, swung the car around expertly. Then out of the driveway they sped, into the night and leaving the cathedral behind like a blur in the background.
"Samantha, huh," the brunette smiled widely whilst chewing on gum. "I'm Ruby. You can call me Red." She stuck out a hand, and the other remained on the steering wheel. "Pleased to meet ya."
"You too," the blonde took the hand offered and shook it.
"I'm a really good friend of Adriana's," Red said in all smiles. "She's told me so much about you. I've been dying to meet you in person. It's like she just can't stop talking about this amazing cop she keeps running into. She swore to me that you're the most beautiful woman she's ever seen in her life. And I've got to admit, you really are."
Their eyes met. Samantha shrugged. "Well, it's two against one, I guess."
"Come on," Red said, appearing surprised. "Don't give me that line. You should be proud. And besides, Adriana doesn't go for any kind of person. It's really hard for her to trust anyone, or for that matter, fall in love with them. And I've got to tell ya, Samantha, she's smitten. It's been so long since I've seen her like this. I've known her for a long time now, by the way."
"How did you two meet?" Samantha was curious. Not entirely jealous of knowing that Adriana had other female acquaintances. But merely intrigued.
Red, sighed. "A couple of years ago, she saved me from one of those fucking red light districts in Miami. I've given her my life ever since. She's saved a lot of us. You know, you get into the wrong hands as a young girl. Desperate for cash. And then you're beaten up and tossed around. Well, she finds those girls like me, and she gives us new identities and a place to live. She treats us like her sisters."
Her heart melted after realizing how amazing Adriana was. The woman kept on astounding her in every possible way. To save young women like Red? To go out of her way to look after them? Giving them another chance in life?
"Don't hurt my big sis," Ruby warned when the car suddenly slowed down and nosed its way down an alley. "I'm warning you. You'll have a lot of angry ladies with pitchforks outside the NYPD screaming murder."
"I wouldn't," Samantha was literally trembling in her seat from being consumed with the most intense feelings resulting from love.
When Red parked the car inside a yard that was littered with the rusty frames of vehicles, and protected by a tall fence made from barbed wire, the brunette gestured for the other woman to follow her. Quickly, they made their way up a flight of steps and down the corridor of a housing complex rising up to ten floors. From the looks of it, people who were barely scraping a decent amount of pay rented the rooms in the building. The walls were yellow, dingy and peeling. The floorboards creaked under Swan's footfalls. And every corner they rounded, the wind howled through cracks and the ceiling leaked.
"Here we are," Red finally said after they possibly passed by at least fifty rooms along the way. She offered Samantha a wide smile before pulling out a key. "As soon as you go in, remember to lock the door. Stay away from the windows and don't answer anyone who knocks. Just in case Adriana forgets to mention that to you. Bye!" And without sparing a second, the brunette dashed down the hall and disappeared out of sight. Strange, wasn't it? How life could throw you into the queerest situations.
Now, with the door barely ajar, and still pondering whether to enter or not, a hand shot out from the depths of the room and snatched Samantha around the right wrist. Gasping, she allowed herself to be tugged into a room that immediately smelled so pleasant from warm butter rolls and cinnamon. When Samantha finally fixated her eyes upon Adriana frantically slipping the locks into place on the sturdy door, she instantly grew dizzy. Her knees weakened. Her pulse quickened and in that very moment upon casting a slow study upon the older woman's familiar body, her dark hair that curled around her shoulders and that goddamn perfect skin, the blonde fell in love all over again.
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