— BLAKE S T E V E N S.
Blake had been raised in an environment and home that should have molded her to be someone who was continuously arrested rather than the person who made an arrest. She’d had close contact with addiction in the form of her parents and neighbours, continuously raised around violence and danger. She’d even started her young life by getting in trouble with the law until someone saw something inside of her and took her beneath his wing despite the times she gave him trouble for it. While she wanted to be someone who followed the law to the letter, she was not. She bent and shifted it to match her methods.
Nevertheless, she continued to learn from other comrades about what it took to be a good cop. Often times she got caught up in her anger when situations arose where she had little control. But nothing weakened her more than watching those she cared about battle their own demons. Those were things she could help with and care for. Therefore, she’d done her part to ensure that Simon was okay at the end of his days. Even allowing him to call her whenever he needed someone to speak to after hard cases and harder days. Her promise was to always be there and she was thankful that she’d never broken it.
“It’s going but there’s a lot to do, still. Luckily we’re getting more volunteers coming in.” The brunette said with a grimace since there still weren’t enough but she knew that people were injured. Shaking her head, she shrugged off his apology. “If anything, your call came at the right time for me. I needed to get out and speak to you — It’s always nice. Plus, I’ve been meaning to catch up on your life and how you’re doing.”
Simon smiled warmly before taking a sip of his coffee. Since recovering from his injuries, he hadn’t been one for friends, certainly not friends who he could call and feel comfortable talking about everything that was constantly going on inside of his head. He had always been a rather quiet person, the keep-your-head-down type, someone who just wanted to get his work done as efficiently as possible — though, he was slowly learning that for him, that wasn’t a sustainable way to live. Because on the other hand, he loved people. He loved getting to know about different cultures and hearing about the adventures other people had gone on. And hence, it was a rude awakening when he realized for the first time that he needed people — instead of being the one who was needed.
Thankfully, he and Blake seemed to be the type of friends who could support one another while also accepting support themselves — though he was working on his half of that arrangement. But, at the end of the day, reaching out was the first step and it was a big one for a man like Simon.
“I’m doing okay,” he began, clearing his throat before his next set of words. “Not sleeping that much, unfortunately.” It wasn’t as though Simon ever slept a lot, but as of late, it seemed to be that he was up in the late hours of the night staring at his ceiling fan, thinking about things from the past that were of no use to anybody. He was lucky to be the type of person who could run functionally on a bad night of sleep, but that didn’t mean he was okay sleeping like that every night. “A lot of coffee,” he quipped, raising his cup only slightly before sipping from it again.
