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kaeda-the-wolf · 10 months

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Diego Jimenez x Lauren Wolffe (OFC)

Word Count; 1,750

Part 2: Burgers & Bail

In which Detective Lauren Wolffe and her partner, Marcus Morenci, are paid a visit by one of the best criminal defense lawyer's in New York.

Warnings: Language, brief mentions of domestic violence/child abuse/murder.

Author's note: This chapter is brought to you by my finally taking an actual vacation.

Any gifs used in any posts for this story do not belong to me.

Lauren is two cups of coffee and a quarter of the way through a massive stack of case files when a white paper bag is plopped down in front of her. Slightly startled, she glances up from the paragraph she's read at least twice already to see Marcus looking down at her with what he probably thinks is a charming smile.

"What's this, a peace offering," Lauren questions as she leans back in her chair, crossing her arms. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't still irritated about earlier, especially after the way the rest of their previous conversation had gone.

"When you say you're talking from experience, I take it you mean your daughter? What's her name? Ella?"

"Ellie," Lauren corrected.

"Right. She's what, eight or nine?"

Lauren stayed silent, focusing on her driving as she switched lanes.

"That's her on your phone lockscreen, right? And in the picture on your desk?"

Again, Lauren doesn't reply. She has no intention of encouraging his attempts at small talk.

"She's a cute kid. Looks just like you, except her eyes. I take it she took after her dad, there. Speaking of which, where is-"

Lauren had stomped on the brakes, probably a little more forcefully than necessary, as someone had cut them off. Marcus had jolted forward with a curse, nearly smacking into the dashboard.

"What the fuck, 'Ren?"

Lauren gritted her teeth at the shortening of her name. She'd always hated it when people called her that.

"Sorry," she muttered halfheartedly.

"You'd think with as many people that live here, at least some of them would know how to drive."

Lauren had calmly agreed, and the subject had effectively changed after that, much to her relief. Marcus meant well, but Lauren had already been fighting back all her constant fears and worries about her daughter after the events of this morning, and wasn't about to go digging all of those up at the behest of someone who just couldn't leave well enough alone, even if he was her partner.

In fact, she was doing her best to not think about those things. Or the case.

That was why she'd stayed buried nose deep in work since they'd returned to the precinct, her only consolation being that the person responsible for the boy's -Antonio Reyes- murder was in a holding cell downstairs.

Out of sight, mostly out of mind.

"No," Marcus huffs. "It's lunch. You know, actual food that's not a bag of chips and a stale candy bar from the vending machine downstairs?"

"Careful, Marcus," Lauren chides lightheartedly with a small smile as she tears into the bag. "Keep talking like that and someone might think you actually like me."

"I do actually like you," Marcus quips sharply, only for a sheepish look to cross his face the moment he realizes he was a bit too eager to reply. Lauren arches a brow, but Marcus is sputtering on before she can even think of a response.

"I mean, I do most of the time. Still think you've got a stick up your ass."

"Right," Lauren chuckles, choosing to overlook his response as she tears into the bag in front of her. It's from her favorite restaurant a couple of blocks away and she's actually pretty damn hungry (chips and candy only go so far) so she pays little mind to what Marcus had gotten her as she pulls out the food.

"Double bacon cheeseburger with everything but the pickles and onions and cheesy tater tots, right?"

Lauren's hands freeze in the middle of pulling a box out of the bag, a chill crawling down her spine. As much as she loved the old burger joint, Lauren rarely spared the money to eat there, preferring the cheapest option available for lunch (which, more often than not, usually meant eating nothing) in order to pinch a few extra pennies for her daughter's sake. She and Marcus had gotten burgers once, maybe twice, since they had started working together…

So how did he have her order down perfectly?

"Uhm, yeah," Lauren answers, unease thick in her voice as she locks eyes with Marcus, jarring her into moving again. "Thank you."

The smile she gives is more of a grimace than anything, and obviously forced as Lauren pops open the box of tater tots, but Marcus simply smiles at her, looking pleased with himself.

And somehow, that's even more unsettling.

When he steps away from her desk to go back to his own, she lets out a breath. She gets about half of the burger down, unable to keep from side-eying Marcus as she eats. The food is delicious -as always- but her appetite was nonexistent, her stomach roiling.

How the fuck did he know my order?

She tries to put the thought out of her mind. Really, she does, but it's a futile effort as the thought echoes through her mind again and again. Maybe he'd asked one of the other detectives -maybe Cartright, or Howell- but then she doubted that they paid enough attention to know. Cartwright was nice enough, but Howell didn't care for her, and the feeling was mutual.

"Is the food good," Marcus asks, meeting her gaze as Lauren glances at him over the top of her computer monitor. He'd opted for the exact same burger, she noticed, but had swapped out the tater tots for the Cajun steak fries.

"It's great," she replies absentmindedly, shutting the nearly full box of cheesy tater tots. "I appreciate it."

"You're welcome," is his emphatic answer, a brilliant smile flashing across his features. Lauren was sure that smile was enough to woo just about any woman at the bar, but it reminded her more of something more predatory, something that looked welcoming on the surface, but would rip you to shreds if you got too close.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," he continues as Lauren tries to discreetly drop what remains of her food in the trash. He pays her absolutely no mind, eyes focused on his computer screen in front of him.

She doubts he's looking at anything work related.

"We'll have to eat out more often. There's a new Italian place a few street over-"

Marcus' words abruptly, uncharacteristically go silent, which commands her attention far more than whatever he'd been saying. Lauren looks up, having returned to her work, and the moment she does, her heart takes a nose dive into her stomach. Standing just inside the main door of the precincts bullpen, looking regal as ever in a tan, three piece suit that she has no doubt costs more than her rent two times over, is Brian Nguyen, one of the most renowned defense attorney's in New York. Next to him stands Lieutenant Albrecht, who is so red in the face it looks like he might stroke out.

Brian cuts a glance at Lauren, giving her a subtle, knowing smirk as he speaks.

"Detective Wolffe." His dark eyes pierce right through her. It's not a look of triumph, it's a warning, a reminder. "It's been quite a while."

No, it hasn't, Lauren's mind supplies in answer. The thought is slightly bitter, and overly guilty.

She was all too familiar with Brian Nguyen, or rather, the kind of clientele he represented; drug dealers, mob guys, enforcers, all the other kinds of guys who probably deserved to be under the prisons rather than in them.

If he was here, it was an omen for a bad day.

"Indeed it has," Lauren replies coolly. "To what do we owe the pleasure?"

"He's here for Carlos Muñoz," Lieutenant Albrecht responds, his face bitter. Lauren grits her teeth, apprehensiveness settling poorly in her stomach.

She probably shouldn't have eaten that burger.

"Just to talk, I'm assuming? He started asking for you the moment we cuffed him."

"I'm afraid not, Detective Morenci."

Sure you are, Lauren says to herself, rage boiling in her veins. She knows all too well what Brian Nguyen is here for, if he's not here to talk to his client.

"He's made bail?" Marcus questions, and Lauren wants to sock him for not reading the giant pink elephant in the room. She settles for scratching her pen deep into a stack of blue sticky notes on her desk. Ellie had picked them out; blue was her favorite color.

"Yes," Albrecht grits out, and Lauren knows he’s feeling the same frustration as her. "They're already working through the release process."

Lauren shakes her head, glancing at the picture of Ellie on her desk. It was an older photo from a birthday two years prior; Ellie is grinning, all dimples and missing baby teeth, holding up a new stuffed animal frog that Lauren had gotten her, brown eyes bright and her hair in lopsided, blonde pigtails. It was a picture similar to one that Lauren had seen in the Reyes home of the little boy -Antonio- that Muñoz had murdered.

Antonio Reyes would never smile like that again, and the bastard responsible for it was going to walk free.

Just like far too many others.

This was another aspect of the job that Lauren hated, one that she would never get used to. And it was something happening more and more often.

Lauren sits at her desk, seething, and watches as Nguyen signs the necessary paperwork for the bail. The moment he bids them all goodbye, at least having the small sliver or decency to not look smug as he does so, Lauren feels the straw break the camel's back.

"This is such bullshit," she spits, haphazardly shuffling case files back into their folders. She pauses when she spots an extra copy of the photo of the lifeless, beaten body of the boy.

"I can't say I'm surprised," Marcus remarks, ignoring the glare Lauren flashes his way as he kicks back in his chair, hands behind his head. "But how does a guy like that make bail that high?"

"He doesn't," Lauren hisses, throwing on her jacket. Tucking the crime scene photo into the inner pocket, she grabs her keys and marches towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Lieutenant Albrecht questions, a hint of worry showing through his otherwise neutral expression.

"For a walk," Lauren answers, softer than she would if anyone else were to ask. They would probably be having a conversation soon about how she was doing.

Her lieutenant simply nods, knowing better than to try and stop her.

If he knew where she was headed, he would.

Masterlist ☆ Part 1 ☆ Part3

@1zashreena1

#Lauren is MAD #Finally fucking wrote something #Only had to go on a hunting trip in Northern Michigan #God it was fun though #Marcus seems (hopefully) a little sketchy for a reason #Lauren isn't the friendliest for lots of reasons #No Diego in this chapter #But he will make an appearance soon!#Diego Jimenez #maurice compte

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