@brightprofiler. // ⟨ M. Bright. ⟩ // ♡ liked for a starter.
OVER THE COURSE OF A FEW WEEKS, DANI HAD EACH TIME RELUCTANTLY GONE HOME AFTER A HARD DAY’S WORK. Usually, it wasn’t strange to find her at the precinct at ungodly hours, and her mind would be too occupied on a case to notice the time or too hopeful to find something she’d missed an hour, or even five minutes, ago. But some colleagues had started to notice that this was not one of those instances, especially when they had left her at the precinct and found her in the exact same spot, wearing the same clothes, first thing in the morning ( sometimes asleep, other times appearing to be busy with paperwork ) .
Truth to the matter was that Dani felt like she wanted to be anywhere but at her apartment, knowing what or rather who would be awaiting her. She was certain she had changed the locks since the last time this happened, but at some point over the past weeks, Dani had started to doubt herself and it all spiralled from there to the point of ( seemingly ) no return. The sole thing she was certain of, was that he wouldn’t dare step into the precinct, at least that was a line he knew not to cross. Despite being known as the tough one from the Bronx, a title she always wore with pride and hoped to do justice, she had painfully acknowledged that she was taking the easy way out, by hiding away rather than seeking out the inevitable confrontation. Still, she felt like it was the strongest thing she could do at the moment, and had promised herself to confront him when the killer of the current case had been caught when the families of the victims were offered a form of closure, relief and peace.
Detective Powell was not a stranger to police work, and knew the team’s current case needed her sharp, not barely hanging on as someone she despised tried to violently throw himself back into her life. However, Dani hadn’t seen a reflection of herself in days, and remained unaware of how exhausted she appeared ; her current tactics were giving her a similar result she feared would happen if she gave in and saw him along with her mental health plummeting.
She was sat across from the whiteboard, photographs, written out interviews and other pieces of data attached to this case surrounding her. Dani had allowed her heavy head to lean on the table for what she believed to be a few seconds, before hearing a joyful voice fill the room. In her attempt to function like a normal and healthy human being, she jerked her head up to pay attention to the voice. Instead, she was greeted by a painful headache, causing her brows to knit together, trying to figure out how to get rid of it without having to take a painkiller. Hearing her own voice, she thought it sounded off, but hoped it was just a figment of her imagination.
“ Hmmm , what did you say ? ”