Adult-FanFiction.org : Television / Streaming

Release	By : KaticaLocke Category: G through L > Law & Order Views: 3499 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Law & Order, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 50
- 51
- 52
Alex jumped awake, her heart fluttering in a wild moment of panic as she tried to remember where she was. She pulled away from Edward, not completely out of his arms, but enough to look around. The roof was cleared, the circle of salt scuffed away, with only Bobby, Deakins, Munch and Elliot remaining, speaking quietly amongst themselves about twenty feet away. Raum was gone.
�Where is he?� Alex asked, resting one hand on Edward�s forearm.
�Who? Raum? He was taken to lockup.� She glanced up at Bobby, who was watching her over Munch�s shoulder. For a second, he looked lost, abandoned, alone, then he dropped his eyes and turned away. She slipped out of Edward�s arms.
�I have to talk to him.�
�He�s going to be out for several hours, Alex,� Edward called after her, but she was already halfway across the roof and didn�t feel like explaining it to him. Whatever they guys were talking about, they stopped as she approached, breaking their little circle and turning to face her.
�Feeling better?� Munch asked, his usual smirk replaced with a tired smile. �You looked so peaceful, we didn�t want to wake you, and Detective Sledge said he didn�t mind.� Bobby frowned and brought his fist up to his lips, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. It was his �I�m going to explode if I don�t say this� look.
�How long was I out?� she asked quickly, heading off what was sure to be a disparaging remark about Edward.
�Fifteen minutes or so,� Elliot said.
�No wonder I still feel like crap,� she said with a weak chuckle. Fifteen minutes - she felt like she could sleep for the next fifteen hours. �How long until Raum wakes?� she asked, stifling a yawn with her hand.
�Eight hours, maybe ten,� Munch replied. �You should go home, all of you.� He swept his gaze over the lot of them. �A representative of the Council will be here tomorrow night to take Raum into custody. All we have to do is hold him until then.�
�On what grounds?� Deakins asked with a frown. Munch peered at him over the tops of his glasses. �You have to charge him with something if you want to hold him longer than twenty-four hours, or did they change that law while I wasn�t looking?�
"Sorry, Captain Deakins," Munch said, "but the court system is going to have to bend over and take it in the ass this time."
"Excuse me?"
"We can't charge Raum with anything," Munch explained. "Not only does he not exist legally, after tomorrow night, he probably won't exist at all, and that's a lot of paperwork I don't want to have to fill out."
"Which means we get to violate the hell out of his civil rights," Elliot said with a shark-like grin.
"I agree that this guy is an exception," Deakins said, "but you're talking unlawful imprisonment and accessory to murder."
"Those who live by the wand, die by the wand," Munch said solemnly. "Raum was found guilty by his peers a long time ago. We're just keeping him until he can be extradited." Before Deakins could form another argument, an eerie sound rose up around them, like the echoing howl of a hound. It made the hair on the back of Alex's neck stand on end.
"What was that?" Edward asked, his arm brushing against hers as he stepped up beside her.
"Tarak," Munch said, turning toward the roof door. A moment later, the door swung open and a man stepped out. He was average height, better than average looks, with a wiry build and some East Indian somewhere in his family tree. His face was thin, almost regal, with a neat goatee framing his mouth. In the new sunlight, his hair glowed the color of honey, except at the temples, which sparkled with silver. Must have started going gray early, Alex noted. He had to be in his early to mid-thirties. He flashed a white smile as he walked over to them.
"Now do you want to tell me what's going on, John?" As he drew closer, his eyes took in each of them in turn, lingering on Alex. "So, are these your friends?" Alex bristled under his gaze. It wasn't overtly suggestive or threatening - in fact, first impression said he was a nice, polite, fun guy, but something about him set her fur on end. Behind him, she caught a flash of movement, but by the time she�d turned her attention to that area, whatever it was had disappeared.
"No, Tarak, these are just some strangers I met on the roof here," Munch said. Even his sarcasm sounded tired, Alex noted. He quickly made introductions. "These are Detectives Elliot Stabler, Robert Goren, Alex Eames, Edward Sledge and Captain James Deakins. Everybody, this is - "
"Tarak, at your service," Tarak interrupted, offering his hand to Alex. She gave it only a brief shake before letting go. �Sorry about the - � He reached up like he was going to touch her face and she pulled away. �Still hurts?� It took her a moment to realize what he was talking about - the welt that the dart had left along her face. She shrugged, trying to heed her instincts, but unable to see why they were telling her that this guy was bad news. He looked at her a moment longer before shaking hands with the others. �Hey,� he said when got to Bobby, �you�re the sucker in the circle. What the heck did you do?�
�He was on the receiving end of an incubus curse,� Munch said. Tarak raised his eyebrows.
�Wow, who�d you piss off?� Out of the corner of her eye, Alex caught some small movement off to her right. She glanced across the roof, but nothing was there.
�Raum,� Munch said. Tarak was silent for a moment. When Alex turned back to him, he was staring at Munch like he�d grown another head.
�Raum,� Tarak repeated, �as in the Carrion Crow? As in the number one most wanted warlock in the world? As in the son of a bitch who leveled a Scottish village because the inn was fresh out of haggis?�
�Yeah, that�s the guy,� Munch said. Tarak looked out over the waking city, absently stroking his goatee.
�That�s - that�s who I shot, isn�t it?� They all nodded. �Son of a - Great, just great, John.�
�What,� Munch asked, �you don�t want to be known as the man who brought down Raum?� Alex whipped her head around, trying to catch whatever it was that she kept seeing just out of the edge of her vision. Again, there was nothing there.
�No, I truly don�t,� Tarak replied. �That monster has escaped from the Witch�s Council more than once. If he does it again, don�t you think he�s going to want revenge?�
�Why, Tarak, if I didn�t know better, I�d say you sounded scared of this guy.� Tarak gave Munch a dead-eye gaze. �Considering what you do for a living, I wouldn�t think a simple wayward warlock would bother you this much.�
�We both know that Raum is no �simple wayward warlock�,� Tarak returned, �so stop giving me grief, John. That man would have killed you all, and enjoyed it. And leave what I do for a living out of this. I�m proud of my job.�
�As you should be,� Munch said, and inclined his head slightly toward Tarak, acknowledging that he may have gone too far. �The city owes you a debt of gratitude, even if they don�t know it.�
�What is it you do, exactly?� Deakins asked. Tarak hesitated.
�He�s in law enforcement,� Munch supplied.
�Really,� Bobby said, the slight disbelief in his tone drawing Alex�s attention. No one else seemed to notice. �Which ... agency?�
�Animal Control,� Tarak replied, raising his chin slightly. Alex had spent enough time with her brothers to know that look - the �what are you going to do about it� look. She�d also spent enough time with her partner to know exactly what he would do about it, if the situation warranted doing anything, and from the look on Bobby�s face, something warranted a severe looking into. Normally, she would have loved to help, especially with her �spider-senses� going all crazy on her, but after the day and night she�d had, the last thing she wanted to was to watch Tarak get dissected up there on the roof.
�Well, it�s been a pleasure,� she said, stepping between the men and briefly touching Bobby on the forearm. She turned to Tarak. �Nice to meet you, thanks for saving our lives, excuse me for not staying, but my partner and I need to go to bed. To sleep. We need rest - obviously.� She nearly gave herself whiplash as that something moved just out of sight again. She groaned and rubbed her eyes. �Rambling and imagining things. Great.�
�Must be contagious,� Deakins said with a chuckle. �I swear something up here keeps just at the edge of my vision.�
�It�s the rising sun,� Elliot said with a yawn. �It does weird things with your eyes. I�ve been seeing it too.� Maybe she was imagining things, but Alex would have sworn Munch glanced over at Tarak and the two of them shared a small, secret smile. It was there and gone in the blink of an eye, and Munch turned back to them.
�All right, everybody go home,� the warlock said. �I�ll catch some sleep in the crash room until Raum wakes up. I assume you�ll want to question him? If not, I can just keep him unconscious until the Council comes. Less dangerous that way.�
�No,� Bobby said, �I need to talk to him, to - to understand why he would ... do this.�
�Good luck,� Munch said with a sigh.
�I want to �talk� to him, too,� Elliot said, and from the tone of his voice, Alex could tell that there would be few words involved.
�Fine. He�ll need to be dosed with more knotweed and eyebright in a few hours.� Munch glanced from Elliot to Bobby. �So, who wants first crack at him?�
�We do,� Bobby and Alex said together. They glanced at Elliot, who, surprisingly, shrugged.
�As long as I get five minutes with him before the witch people show up, I don�t really care,� Elliot said, his eyes hard as chips of dark sapphire.
�After what he did ...,� Bobby said, �you can have an hour.� Their eyes met and there was this moment of male bonding, some kind of mutual �no one hurts my woman and gets away with it� crap that Alex found slightly sexist, but fairly sweet. Guys would always be guys, after all, and it never hurt to let them feel special once and a while.
�All right then,� Munch said. �I�ll call you two as soon as he wakes.� They handed him their cell phone numbers and headed for the door, walking in silence until they reached the front steps of the precinct. Bobby mumbled something about hailing a cab, but Alex put a stop to that immediately.
�I�m not leaving the SUV parked here all day,� she said. �I�m also not sure if I can stay awake to drive, so you get to come with me and keep me awake.� She brushed her hair out of her eyes and glanced up and down the street. �Where the hell are we? Is my place closer, or yours?�
�About the same, I think,� Bobby said, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. �It�s a couple of blocks in - in your favor.�
�That settles it then - we�re going to my place.� She held up her hand as he started to protest. �I can barely keep my eyes open, Goren, I�m not running all over the city taking you home. Besides, I know you - you won�t have anything decent in your fridge and you need to eat. A slice of pizza does not a meal make.� She headed for the parking garage, forcing him to follow by continuing to talk. �Neither of us would get any rest on a couch, and mine�s the bigger bed, -� She heard his footsteps falter at these words. �- so my place is the logical solution. Plus, when Munch calls, we can arrive together in a timely fashion, and no one has to pick the other up.�
�Sounds like ... you�ve got it all worked out,� he said. She just shrugged and kept walking. A moment later, he�d caught up with her and grabbed her by the arm, stepping around her until they were face to face. �About what I said earlier, about wanting to remember ...�
�Let me guess,� Alex said with a tight smile. �It sounded romantic at the time, when you thought we were going to die anyway, but now that we�ve survived, you�ve changed your mind.� That wasn�t it, she knew that, but nothing could get him talking like a wrong assumption.
�No,� he said with a frown, �not at all. If I wasn�t so damn tired, I�d - It�s just, going to your place ... with your big bed ...� He kept pausing, waiting for her to fill in the gaps, to give something away, but she just kept her mouth shut and made him finish the thought. �I didn�t want you to think we had to remember tonight - this morning - now.� With a tired smile unfolding upon her lips, Alex reached up and laid her hand against his cheek, that omnipresent 5 o�clock shadow just a few hours away from qualifying as a beard.
�Don�t worry, Bobby, I�m so tired, even with your impressive ... skill, I�d probably sleep right through it anyway, so let�s save the remembering for a time when we can both be awake to enjoy it. Sound good?� He reached up and took her hand, pressing her fingertips briefly to his lips.
�Sounds good, Eames,� he said, enveloping her hand in his as they started toward the SUV again. �Sounds real good.�
- 50
- 51
- 52
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Release