Big thank you to Smokey, Fab, and Eis for all their help on this. Fab for editing most of this and helping me plot out the initial idea late on the Sunday night before soma week started. Eis for being a cutie and even drawing cop!Soul with his cute short hair hugging Maka. And Smokey for absolutely losing her shit over these two and helping me with all the actual cop stuff.

And, a HUGE thank you to all of you guys. I have loved reading your comments, tags, notes, everything. This was a lot of fun to write and I really appreciated all of the support for this silly little idea.

[First I love you]

He'd been sent on patrol because Captain Albarn had caught Maka kissing his cheek when she brought him coffee that morning.

Totally worth it.

It's been a month since the explosion at the courthouse; after the initial investigation, it was Justin Law, the rogue detective, who'd caused the explosion. The idiot had even blown himself up in some act of righteous and just chaos. Bullshit, he killed a lot of good people who didn't deserve to die and a lot of people had been seriously hurt. Soul's arm is still in a cast, that's coming off soon hopefully, and everything else had healed nicely.

There were going to be a few scars, but he was okay with it. He bought two extra batteries for his phone, one for his uniform and one for his wallet, as soon as he was coherent enough to remember how to type. That was a few days later and after a ridiculous amount of sleep and food at regular intervals. All he remembered from getting back to the precinct was apologizing to Maka, being naked, and then trying to get out from under the conference table.

That wasn't fun. The painkillers had worn off by that point, he was sore as fuck, and his broken arm was letting him know exactly how broken it was. Worst part? Some EMT with blue hair had been just about to jab a needle in him for a bag of fluids. Soul shudders in his cruiser as he makes his rounds, he fucking hates needles.

But Maka had stayed with him the entire time, and that had made things a bit better. Well, a lot better.

It's nice, they'd grab a coffee together in the early mornings after he got off a night shift or sometimes she'd come over for a nap in the afternoon after her classes. On the rare days that they both have off, they like to be lazy together. Frequently, Soul finds himself napping on his couch with his legs in her lap while she reads a book that has absolutely nothing to do with school. They'll cook, or sometimes order pizza, mushrooms on her half and sausage and peppers on his, and watch the game if Soul managed to remember to record it.

Maka's an easy person to be around; she isn't always easy to be with, but then neither is he. So she puts up with his weird dental hygiene habits and he deals with her know it all fact side note nerd outs that she so often has, mostly on topics that have no relevance to either of their lives. It's usually kind of cute, right until she starts going into detail about parasites.

But Soul likes her, he really really likes her. Like a lot. Like he should not like her this much, not for how short a time he's known her or how often she has hit him over the head with her law textbooks. But he does. Which might be a sign of brain damage caused by those law text books. Fuck. Well, he can live with it if it means he gets to live with her.

He's already debating if it's too soon to ask her to move into his apartment, selfishly because he wants to wake up next to her every day that he actually gets to sleep and mostly because he is pretty sure that there is a pole set up in the living room of the apartment that she shares with Blair. The one time he does ask her about it, Maka just laughs and says it's what she and Blair decorate at Christmas. Which makes him gawk, marvel, and a little sad inside, because he wants her to have a real tree that makes her happy to put presents under. Not some…pole.

Soul would also like to know if it's too soon to confess his undying love for her. Because this is sort of past the infatuation stage, hell, even Captain Albarn has resigned himself to the fact that Maka won't stay away from him, so he's instead decided to make Soul's life as difficult as possible. Again, worth it if he gets to have Maka in his life. And it doesn't seem to just be some sort of rebellion for Maka either; at least, he really hopes it isn't, because that would just suck. But he's a cop. He's pretty damn observant, so he doesn't miss the way she looks at him, he just hopes it means what he wants it to mean.

Speaking of being observant, a little girl crying at the base of a tree catches his eye and Soul slows the cruiser down until it's inching along. He stops it just in front of the yard, the grass needs to be cut again, but the flowerbeds look well maintained, and puts the car in park. "Hi miss, everything okay?" He asks as he steps out of the car.

The little girl has scruffy brown hair and a strange sort of chameleon hat on. "My kitty is in the tree!" Soul looks up and sure enough, there's a little orange kitten in the branches of the tree.

"Hey, shhhh, it's gonna be okay. I'll get her down, okay?"

"Be careful mister police officer!"

Soul grins, "here, can you hold my hat for me, please?" He hands it to the little girl who takes it reverently. She nods vigorously at him and Soul eyes the tree.

There aren't a lot of low branches, and even with his height, he's going to have to jump. Well, at least it isn't a pine tree so he won't get sap on his uniform. But, his arm is still in a cast. He eyes the tree, and then shrugs. He has a kitten to save.

It takes him longer than he'd like to admit to scramble up into the branches of the tree, and he is so doing a million pushups as soon as the stupid cast is off. The kitten wobbles away from him, meowing pitifully, and the little girl runs around underneath with his hat like she'll catch the kitten, aptly named Pumpkin. He swears under his breath and shimmies closer to the kitten, arm outstretched. "Come here, you little ball of fluff, you're worrying your girl."

Pumpkin mews and gets her fat tummy stuck between two twigs. Soul moves as far forward as he can on the branch, snags Pumpkin and holds her close to his chest just as he's pretty sure Maka calls his name. Which is weird, because what would she be doing here? He whips his head around, his cast slips on the branch and fuck.

Hi ground.

Soul groans, Pumpkin meows, and the little girl gasps. And Maka, who apparently really is there, giggles. Yeah, and he loves this girl.

"Thanks for the concern, fine thanks. Ow." He carefully detaches the kitten's needle sharp claws from the front of his shirt and chest and holds the kitten up for the little girl to take. "Officer downnnn." He whines.

"Oh no, my poor brave knight. Are you okay?" Maka fusses with this arm and leans over him to grin in his face, "I'll say something really nice at your funeral, okay?"

"Har har, should I text you that I fell out of the tree?" He grunts and manages to sit up. It wasn't that far of a fall and he hadn't even knocked the wind out of himself.

Maka smiles and plucks a few leaves out of his hair. "No, its fine, you saved a kitten that's what matters."

"Yeah! You saved Pumpkin! Thank you mister police officer!" The little girl cradles the little orange cat to her chest and grins at both of them.

Maka leans over and whispers a little too loudly to the little girl, "Angela, this is Officer Evans, he's actually a superhero." She smiles and nods when Angela gasps and leans back to Soul. "Officer, this is Angela, she's a witch in training, aren't you?"

"Yup! Daddy lets me make potions and ride my broom and he even got me a kitten! Are you really a superhero?"

Soul can actually feel himself blush, but before he can protest, Maka cuts in. "Yup! He's got super strength and a heart made out of gold, but he's a little rusty at flying. That's why he fell out of the tree, isn't it?"

"Maka-"

"Woooow! That's so cool mister police officer!" Angela has stars in her eyes now when she looks at him and Maka has the most satisfied little smile that all he can do is scratch the back of his neck and hope that his cheeks aren't too red.

"Angela is the daughter of one of my professors, she comes to class sometimes." Maka tells him while Angela runs around the yard with a little toy broom and Pumpkin tucked under her arm.

"I was going to ask. And what are you doing in this area? Not that it isn't nice to see you." He adds hastily.

"I walk through here to get to the library. No, don't give me that look, I know that look. That's the 'you shouldn't be anywhere near the streets past seven o'clock!' look. It's perfectly safe and if I'm at the library late I take the bus. Calm down." She pokes his cheek and he stops frowning. This neighborhood is actually very safe, but bad things happen regardless. "You ready for the dinner tonight?"

"Don't remind me. I still don't know why they're doing it."

"Because you really are a hero, Soul."

He sighs and puts his cap back on, "I was just doing my job. Anyone would have." But Maka shakes her head and stands, offering him a hand. He takes it, but only lets her take some of his weight as she pulls him up.

"But not everyone did. You saved a lot of lives and helped so much."

"And forgot to call you. And my mom. And brother." He shudders and Maka laughs at him, waving at Angela when she looks over.

"Yes, you did you bonehead. But they were glad to hear from you the next day, even if you were completely high on painkillers and sedatives."

Now it's Soul's turn to laugh, "yeah, that worked out kind of well. They both wanted to come tonight, but there's a concert that they're performing in. Mom promised that she and Wes would come out for a weekend as soon as they can." Having a world class musical family had made for an interesting upbringing; especially when he'd left to pursue a career in law enforcement instead.

"I'd like to meet them." Soul had mentioned his family a few times and whenever his brother called during games, Soul just couldn't stop grinning. "If that's okay! I mean, I don't have to-"

"Maka, I'd like that a lot actually." He cut her off quickly, still a little shocked that she'd want to meet his family. They watch Angela play for a moment more before the radio in the squad car makes both of them jump. "I should get back to work, before you give my secret identity away to anyone else."

She shoves his shoulder playfully, "I'll see you tonight, right? In your dress blues?"

He can't help but laugh at the hopeful look on her face. "Yeah, yeah, guess I should actually show up in formal attire to accept the award. I'm still pretty sure your dad is going to try and pin it to my forehead though."

"He might. But I'll kiss it better. And you're my ride home, remember?"

"And by home you mean my place, right?" Soul wags his eyebrows at her suggestively and she giggles.

"Yes, now shoo, I'm sure there are more kittens that need saving." Angela waves goodbye to them from across the yard and makes Pumpkin wave too.

"Yeah yeah, I'm going." But not really, he's standing in front of her smiling. Maka looks really pretty and he can't quite put his finger on it. Her hair is still down with some of it pulled back, she's not wearing anything special beyond her usual skirt, shirt and light sweater combination, and he's pretty sure she isn't wearing makeup. He leans down and presses a gentle kiss to her lips. "I'll see you later tonight. I love you."

It sort of slips out, but it's okay; it feels like it belongs. Her eyes widen and then she smiles and hides her face in her hands. It takes her a moment and Soul almost laughs, at how red her face is. "I love you too, Soul. Now shoo! Off with you, wasting tax payers' valuable money." But she delays him with another quick kiss. And then another. And another. At least until Angela starts to making cooing noises and yelling something about superheroes and true love.

And yeah, it kind of is about a hero and his true love.

Even if it makes both of them blush.