ARGH!! I do apologize for the long wait. Soccer and school have been eating my brain, and to make things worse, the power source in my hard drive failed and the computer where I had the original story 'Simple Gifts' isn't working, so I'm stuck on my grandmother's computer when she's not online playing games on Pogo. End random little rant. Jus' a lil' grumpy, is all. ((rolls eyes))
I don't own Transformers or Prowl. Just Jordan and most of the other characters in this lil' story. :)
When she first met him, she was skeptical. A rookie fresh out of the academy with the least rookie-ish attitude she's ever seen in all her twenty-odd years of service was now her partner.
He wasn't particularly handsome, just as she wasn't particularly beautiful: both hardly smiled, and the serious face they kept up marred their unique features. Because of this, they made a good team, though they would scarcely mention it to anyone, much less each other. With their cold, calculating stares, tendencies to frown more than smile, and practical way of doing things, one would think they were related, if blood relations were determined by attitude. However, it was obvious to even the most oblivious that they weren't related at all.
He was fair-skinned with crisp hair more brown than sandy. His eyes were an icy blue that could scare even the toughest veterans when he was cross. He stood taller than her at six-foot three, though he looked right for being that tall; he wasn't lanky or scrawny, instead strong and able to avoid being tripped in the field without being over-muscular.
Her skin was slightly darker than his, with honey-brown eyes that looked awkward on her face when she was angry; one would expect a stormy-gray instead of the warm brown she was born with. She was shorter than her rookie partner, barely topping 5' 9" with a strong, stocky build.
'It was odd, how they met. Even more amazing, when he saved her life.' their captain thought, propping his feet on his desk and tapping his pen against his lips as he watched the two interact. 'All of a sudden they're wonderful partners and work better than anyone else. I wonder why.' "Prowl, Jordan?" when he called their names, they looked over at him almost in unison. It was rather unnerving, but he was used to it. Almost. "You're off-duty right now," he reminded them almost paternally. There came that spark he knew would light up in Jordan's defiant eyes. "Go home or else."
The spark glowed brighter in her eyes and her shoulders drew back into her most defiant arguing pose. But Prowl looked down slightly at her and placed a fair hand on her shoulder. He leaned down and whispered something in her ear, causing her to turn her head and look at him. She blinked once then twice after he stopped talking and opened her mouth to argue, the spark slowly dying in her eyes. Prowl whispered again, and her mouth closed. Nodding, she went to the desk they shared and gathered their stuff together.
Prowl gave him a smug look and walked over as his captain shook his head in amusement. "You'll have to teach me that someday."
Prowl gave one of his rare smiles and chucked softly. "I could, but I don't recommend using it on her, though, Captain. Only if you could, ah, see eye-to-eye, so to speak, with her, will it work."
The captain's lips twitched in amusement. "Sometime you'll have to tell me what happened there." he called after the younger officer. Prowl merely turned and gave a secretive smile - unusual that smiling twice in the space of a few minutes was for him - and continued out, taking his things from Jordan and walking with her out the door. Shaking his head, the captain got back to work.
-
Jordan leaned against the door, just barely pretending to drive. The sun that drifted in through the windows warmed her more than was comfortable for her in her long-sleeved uniform and made her drowsy. Gently, the car drifted and parked in front of her small house. A gentle twitch of the seatbelt reminded her that if she really wanted to sleep, the bed was inside, not the car.
Snorting, she thumped the dashboard gently but unclipped the seatbelt and slid out. She swayed slightly, and a gentle hand caught her. A strong arm wrapped around her shoulders, and another slipped behind her knees, scooping her up. Jordan didn't have the energy to protest, but snuggled into the cool chest of her partner. Unlike her, he wasn't bound to his uniform, and had changed to jeans and a T-shirt, a much more comfortable feel against her cheek than crisp uniform and cold, hard badges.
She barely noticed when Prowl fumbled in her pocket for her keys and unlocked the door, carrying her inside and locking it behind him. He made his way carefully to the bedroom and plopped her down on the bed, careful to make sure she didn't fall asleep yet. "Come on, Jordan. You have to get changed or you'll mess your uniform and be uncomfortable."
Lethargically she mumbled something incoherent (Prowl suspected it was a grumble, but wasn't sure) and began to unbutton her shirt as he averted his eyes politely. In moments, she was in a comfortable pair of clothes and collapsed backwards on the bed. Standing, Prowl closed the curtains and windows to keep the sun from hitting her eyes and lay down next to her. Jordan murmured and curled up in a ball over the sheets, falling asleep in seconds. Giving yet another of his rare smiles (an even rarer one he showed only in her presence) he reached out and brushed a hand over her cheek before disappearing to get his own rest.
-
She could still remember the day they met: it was exactly two weeks before her birthday. She had come into the station angry at her soon-to-be-former partner when she first bumped (unintentionally) into him. Scowling, she pushed past him to stalk into her captain's office, ignoring the mildly curious look he sent her and the startled stares of the others in her way. Her timid partner trailed behind her, offering profuse apologies along the way, meekly following his angry partner into the office.
A moment later, shouting erupted and the meek officer came racing out, face pale and sweating. "Another victim," a veteran officer muttered. "I swear, we lose more officers to Jordan than twice the amount of everything combined."
Another veteran snorted nearby as the shouting continued. "Maybe not that much, but a whole lot more."
"Who is Jordan?" a brave rookie in the group asked, and the first veteran gave a derisive laugh.
"The feminized devil," he muttered, sipping his coffee. It was way too early for him to be working with rookies, but he was saddled with it and he'd end up doing his job or risk having Jordan attack him. "She usually takes the night shift and works her ass off. Also the scariest female you'd ever meet, so watch yourselves around her."
"Why is she so bad?" the tallest of the lot asked mildly. "Perhaps she's just tired."
A look from the second senior officer silenced the first's acidic reply. "If she gets tired, it's impossible to tell. Adrian," he called, raising his voice to be heard over the bustle of the station. A pale, slender officer trotted over, wincing as he neared the office. "Didn't you have Jordan as a partner once?"
Adrian shuddered. "Worst experience of my life."
"Care to elaborate?" the second officer asked kindly.
"She's worse than your worst nightmares." Adrian said dryly. "Drives you hard to your breaking point and expects you to know all sorts of things. And everything has to be just so."
"So she's OCD, then?" the tall rookie asked, and Adrian shrugged.
"I don't know, and I really don't care anymore." he grumbled.
"So why didn't she want you as a partner?" the rookie asked in mild curiosity.
Adrian snorted. "Well, with me, I missed a perp. when we were resolving a brawl and he got her hard on the shoulder with a beer bottle. I was holding off a guy with a knife and a guy with a broken bottle," he added defensively when the tall rookie looked at him curiously. "I also got in the way of her swing and earned a bruised collarbone," as if remembering the pain, he rubbed his cheek. "All the way back she was yellin' at me about how stupid I was. Once we got back, the first thing she did was go to the captain's office and tell him to find her a new partner."
"Perhaps she was worried," the rookie suggested in his usual mild tone.
"Nah, Jordan doesn't have any emotions, much less the ability to be worried." Adrian mumbled, walking off.
Anything the rookie could or was about to say in response to that was interrupted as the door opened and the shouting increased in volume without the door to muffle it. "...said I don't want another partner! Sign me up for the solo bike patrols or something, 'cause I ain't takin' another!" Jordan roared, stalking out of the office after her captain who was shaking his head.
"I don't care, Jordan." he said tiredly in the small break she took to take a deep breath and continue arguing. "The solo-bike officers have more than enough people, thanks to you scaring everyone away. We have a new shipment of rookies straight from the academy, and I'll tell you what: you can have first pick of all of them and take as long as you need to determine your new partner."
Honey-brown eyes that looked so awkward on such an angry face swept over the rookies, most of which shrank back at the potent glare. "They all look like idiots." without waiting for a reply - if anyone dared to make one - she swept through, walking and inspecting each one critically. She poked a few in the shoulder and shook her head. At last she came to the tall one she had bumped into before and looked up at him critically. She poked his shoulder hard and pointed toward the captain. Obediently (albeit with a raised eyebrow) he walked over and stood beside the commanding officer who blinked up at him in surprise. Jordan stalked between the other rookies and stalked back to her captain. "He looks promising." was all she said, jerking her head at the tall rookie.
"Your terms?" the captain asked with a father's patience.
"Five days. He has five days to prove himself to me. Once I've been around with him and he has finished his probation, I'll make a decision." Jordan grumbled. "Is that acceptable?"
"Yes," the captain said, eyeing her with a critical blue eye. "You should get some rest, Jordan. You can work out his trials tomorrow."
Jordan nodded absently, looking critically at the tall rookie. "Well? What's your name, O new victim of mine?" she asked sarcastically, glaring at the two older officers on the side who didn't meet her eyes.
"Prowl." If she was surprised at the strange name as everyone else was (or had been), she didn't show it, merely nodding.
"Come back here tomorrow three hours before our shift starts; Cap'n should tell you when it starts and when to be here by. I'll see you then." turning on her heel, she left the station.
-
The captain, after giving a quick tour, bade him go home and get some rest or he wouldn't survive the night. Literally.
However, he didn't require much sleep, and he had a day and a half's worth of energy in him before he would feel even the barest urges of exhaustion. So for once in his life, he let his curiosity get the better of him, and dogged Jordan discreetly. She drove down busy streets, head bobbing once in a while. At last she turned off the main road and headed down a deserted road to a small house at the outskirts of the town.
It was simple and plain without anything immediately noticeable. The lawn was unkept, leaves and tufts of long grass and weeds popping up here and there. The little garden around the tree in the yard was bare dirt, its former inhabitants slumped over in strands of brown and amber.
Tiredly, Jordan climbed out of her car and stumbled toward the house, rummaging in her bag and muttering to herself. She didn't appear to notice the squad car idling quietly near her parked car staggering into the house and slamming the door shut.
Prowl remained there for a little while, scanning the house and its sole inhabitant. There were no pets or children or spouse to greet Jordan, nor any family at all. Just her, all alone. He remained there for a while, thinking as he "felt" his probationary partner fall asleep the moment her head hit the pillows. At last, he backed down the way he came and drove back to the station to wait and rest.
-
When he walked into the station, he found Jordan at what he assumed was her desk, head buried in her hands and a still-steaming cup of coffee next to her elbow. She appeared to be sleeping, but when he approached, she looked up and gave a weary sigh. Muttering something about stupid step-mothers she stood and drained her coffee, ignoring the obvious burning as it went down her throat.
"Let's go, Prowl." she drawled tiredly, letting her cup drop into the trash can on her way to the captain's office.
A moment later she shuffled out and into the parking lot. For a long moment, Jordan just sat in the driver's seat, resting her head against the headrest. "Prowl, I'm going to do something that I've never done before. I'm going to be rough on you, but I'm gonna try to not scare you away."
Prowl said nothing for a long moment. "May I ask you a question?"
"You already did." she said dryly. "Shoot."
He hesitated. "Why do you go so hard on your partners? I heard a lot about how you're OCD -"
"Neurotic, actually." Jordan corrected. "Not quite OCD."
Prowl nodded. "About how you're neurotic," he amended. "And how you push people hard and expect them to live up to very high standards. I'm just curious." he added when Jordan gave him a strange look.
Jordan leaned back against the seat and thought, her right hand reaching up to rub her left shoulder as if it ached. "I am neurotic, but I try not to let it affect me while working. I only push my partners hard because I don't want them to die." she said at last, turning to look at Prowl. "I'm going to tell you something not many people know about me. The first partner I had was when I was a rookie like you. He was one of the best in the station. He was promoted to captain after my third year with him (and in the force), so I had to pick a new partner while he assigned my patrols." Jordan turned away, not noticing or ignoring the mildly surprised and rapt look she was earning from Prowl. "I chose the most promising candidate of the lot and we went off. Not one month into our partnership, he was killed." she finished bitterly, and Prowl realized that knowing what little he did about her, she was likely beating herself up about it, reliving that horrifying moment whenever she saw new rookies walking in the doors.
She was quiet for a long moment, and Prowl hesitated. "What happened to him?"
For a while she said nothing, not even acknowledging that she even heard him. "His name was John Martin. I used to tease him all the time about how stupid and boring his name sounded." she said as if she was in a trance. "He was the best of the lot, and I could see his potential, but he was so stupid. He never paid any attention to whatever I taught him, and I figured he'd be okay, but he was inexperienced in the night shift and didn't know what to look for. We had gotten a call from a bar nearby; there were a bunch of brawlers and drunks that just wouldn't leave. He was confident in his skills so I trusted him and we went in with our batons out. He got knocked over the head within ten minutes and I was left alone for a while before I realized that I couldn't see him. I knocked a few heads together and the drunkards and brawlers left and I saw Martin. Whoever hit him got 'im good and hard. Snapped his spinal cord and shattered his skull. The ME said there was hemorrhaging in the brain and severe blunt force trauma, and that he died instantly." she laughed bitterly. "My partner died, and all I got was a guilty conscience, heavy heart, dislocated shoulder and cracked ribs. Life's a bitch, ain't it?"
Prowl said nothing for a long while, watching Jordan out of the corner of his icy blue eyes. "I understand." he said at last. Jordan didn't acknowledge him. "I won't tell anyone."
"Thank you." she said at long last. "I figured you're smart." she added with a slight curve of her lips in what could barely pass as a smile. "Now let's get to work."
Understanding more of the female officer at his side than many others would had they been in his place, Prowl threw himself into their work. Part of it was selfishness; he wanted a good, experienced partner who he could live with working beside, and found one in Jordan. The majority of it was understanding and sympathy. After all, didn't he know just how she felt?
((Sigh)) Likely off to get a nice little bath then maybe come back and work on the next chapter. :) Hope ya like it so far. I worked on it for a few days.