Chapter Two

          LUCY WAS VERY TEMPTED TO QUIT HER JOB AT THE HOSPITAL RIGHT NOW. There was a mother who had come to her unit with her nine year old daughter and she called every five minutes to bring her child something to drink while she was perfectly capable of doing it herself. Her co worker Tommy had handed her his pager and he was now nowhere to be found. Asshole. Lucy was currently working on her charts, but her mind drifted elsewhere.

The hundred and twenty five grand was at her apartment and the fear of someone breaking in and taking it weighed heavily on her mind. She had hidden it well. The brunette knew how to hide things, having grown up in a household with two older brothers who often took her stuff when she wasn't home. But if someone knew what they were looking for they would tear up the entire place.

"What are you thinking about, sweets?"

Lucy glanced up and smiled at her older co-worker. The chart in her hands was nowhere near done and the woman noticed. 

"Just not feeling it today." she shrugged.

"Is it your landlord?" Betty asked, taking the chart from her hands.

"Yeah," she said. It wasn't a lie. Her landlord was a creep and he'd bother her most days, living in the apartment above her. "He slid a letter under my door, and it was quite ... vulgar."

"You have to move out, honey."

"I wish I could." Lucy agreed with a sigh. "I just need to pay my debt and I can find another place."

"Student loans these days." Betty shook her head as she began to fill in Lucy's chart for her. The brunette smiled and thanked her.

The heart monitor beeped on the computer screen left of her and Lucy stared at it blankly. It skyrocketed for a moment before it turned back to a slow and steady thrum, a strong green line following the beat of it. Her eyes moved to the screen over to see another steady heartbeat.

"Any codes yet?"

The student nurse plopped into her seat beside Lucy and looked at the monitors with interest. Her eyes moved across the screen as if she could read them and then turned to look at the brunette. Betty let out a scoff as she continued to chart.

"You've been gone for five minutes." sighed Lucy, wanting to be anywhere else but at work right now. "And we do not want any codes today, okay? Or like ever."

"Sorry," she muttered, grimace covering her face. "i've just never seen one ... so. I won't bring it up again."

"It's okay." she said, offering her a small smile before turning back toward the monitor. "It's good to learn, but codes on this unit aren't the same like adults. These never leave you, no matter the outcome."

"You're right." said Harriet, wrapping her vest around herself as coldness settled in over the unit. "Is it okay if I work on a project from school? I'm not allowed to work kids with monitors anyway so i'm not much help to you if something happens."

"Sure," nodded Lucy, getting up from her chair to stretch her legs. "take all the time you need."

Harriet scurried off with a big grin on her face as she snatched a sandwich from the table that were left from the previous shift.

The brunette let out an amused chortle before pacing around the small nurses station. There was another spike on the monitor and she glanced at it, but it went back to normal not a few seconds later. The seven month old had probably woken and gone back to sleep, the rest of the vitals were near perfect.

She had been working as a paediatrics nurse for a little over two years now and she loved it more than anything but this was her fifth shift in a row and she was exhausted. 

"Students," muttered Betty as she glanced towards her. "absolutely adore them but they don't have a filter."

Lucy offered a weak smile before she focused back on the monitors and rested her head against the back of her chair as she sat back down, wondering how on earth they were going to fix this.

✧✧✧✧✧

          THE SOUND OF HER ALARM BLARED THROUGH HER BEDROOM AT AROUND NINE IN THE MORNING. The brunette had forgotten about it as she stared up at the ceiling, ignoring the sound on her phone. Lucy had been awake since four and she hadn't moved yet, simply mulling things over. She wanted to sleep, but instead she had her eyes half open as she focused on the tiny crack in the ceiling.

The brunette didn't have to go to work for the next three days and she was glad of it. Lucy hadn't been able to focus on her job the previous day and that wouldn't be fair to her patients. The weight on her chest was heavy and she slowly moved her gaze away from the crack and towards her closet, which was half open, to where the duffel was hidden with the insane amount of cash.

Her alarm stopped and it would soon continue and with a sigh did Lucy push herself up to her elbows.

The brunette checked her phone and turned off her alarm. There were a few texts from Annie and one from Beth, asking her to come over at noon to discuss things. 

Lucy slid from her bed and into her small adjoined bathroom, turning on the faucet of the shower and letting the water warm up.

There was a loud thud in the apartment above her and she rolled her eyes, wiping away the dried mascara from underneath her eyes. Splashing water on her face did nothing to fully wake her up, even if she hadn't really been asleep. 

"Get yourself together." she muttered into the mirror.

Lucy stepped underneath the stream of hot water and let is cascade down her back, her hair darkening. She washed her face thoroughly before scrubbing away all the guilt she felt for stealing. Lucy hadn't been in the store with the other woman, she had been waiting in the back of the lot of Fine and Frugal in Annie's old car. 

When did her life become such a wreck that she needed to resort to stealing? She had no idea.

When the clock chimed ten, she grabbed her keys and drove towards Beth's home in the suburbs. The strawberry blonde had told her about the spare key underneath plants beside the front door and she'd rather lay on Beth's comfortable couch than her own. If she were honest she just didn't like spending time at her own apartment, which is why she always picked up extra shifts at the hospital.

The letters her landlord slid underneath her door got worse and worse and the cops weren't able to do anything about it. It wasn't just Lucy, she heard her downstairs neighbour complain about it too once, but she had moved out not long after.

If she could move out she would, but this apartment was affordable  and close to work. Two main reasons she had moved in.

Beth lived about twenty minutes away from the city centre and Lucy pulled up in her driveway not long after. 

The brunette got the key from the pot beside the door and opened the front door, smiling as the dog rushed to greet her. He whined and sniffed at her jeans excitedly.

"Hey, buddy." said Lucy, ruffling his fur around as she sunk to her knees to give him a good pet. The woman dropped the keys in the bowl beside the door and closed it behind her as she got back to her feet. The dog kept jumping up at her. "What's wrong? You wanna go for a walk? Huh, you need to pee?"

"Nah, he's good."

Lucy flinched and snapped her gaze towards the kitchen, almost stumbling over her own two feet as she locked eyes with the man sitting on the kitchen counter. Slowly her green eyes moved to the two figures behind him, their arms crossed as they stared her down. She noticed the golden gun on the counter beside him, and she swallowed her fear, seemingly frozen in her spot.

"We already took him out."

"What do you want?" She was surprised that her voice didn't crack.

"Oh, relax, sweetheart."

He jumped off the counter and made his way to where she stood, slight swagger in his step. He was dressed in all black and her heart hammered within her chest as he came to a halt before her, closer than she felt comfortable with. He looked down at her and she moved her gaze towards the tattoo on his neck briefly before meeting his eyes. 

An eagle covered most of his throat and it moved as he let out a chuckle. His hair was black and cut in a buzzcut. His scent surrounded her and she clenched her teeth together as she tried to stand her ground. 

"I just need you to call your lady friends over so we can all have ... " he licked his lips. "a little talk."

"About what?"

"Oh, about the money you stole from us."

Fuck 

and here is chapter two! hope you like it and i am so excited for the next few chapters! i am re watching the show and i forgot just how much i love it, literally one of my favourites. thanks for the comments and votes so far! It means a lot.

Love, Lottie