took a little break from my main fanfic for this one-shot. hope you guys'll like it! ^^
Shelly is ‘banned’ from working on a case until she goes to the bar to relax and decides to give her good old buddy, Colt, a call.
Btw the dialogue in italics means Shelly is speaking Spanish. :))
ok im done saying stuff now, enjoy!
The woman sat at her desk, staring intensely at all the information sprawled onto it, her rough fingers massaging her temples. Outside the office, the gentle whistles of the afternoon wind could be heard from time to time. On the inside, a tense stillness had taken over. Both the rangers were at an impass, each scanning the evidence more intense than the other.
Shelly finally sighed, her head falling in her hands in defeat “I got nothing.”. Colt’s fingers, which up until then were rubbing the scar on his chin, now went to the bridge of his nose, pressing in irritation. He squeezed his eyes shut and let out a deep, dispirited sigh.
It had been a long day for the rangers. They had been working on this particular case for the better half of the week now. And today especially, they started from the first rays of sunrise. Neither of them had taken the time to look at the time all day, but judging by the soft coolness of the breeze that entered through the poorly isolated windows and the angle in which the gentle sunlight hit their evidence, it was now about 5 PM.
Colt finally sat up from his chair and started pacing around the room “This case is giving me a migrane.”.
“Join the club.” Shelly commented, no sign of friendly banter in her tone. She took one more look at the evidence scattered all over the table as well as stuck to the walls. They were so close to figuring it out, they could both feel it. It was palpable. It was right there, everything was. Right. There. Which made their failing to figure it out all the more annoying.
Colt had made his way behind Shelly’s chair, examining all the files and the photos from further away, trying to make a connection, any connection. For a moment, everything was still, as if the room remained in a single, everlasting moment in time.
Shelly’s head was spinning. Her eyes hurt from staring into files and computer screens all day, her left one twitching a little involuntarily, but she could still feel it. She could, in fact, feel everything. All at once. Her palms were itching in a weird way, on the inside, something she could not get rid off as much as she tried scratching, she could feel every article of clothing she had on her — down to the tag of her bra which was digging in her back — make contact with her sweaty skin. Suddenly she became aware of just how sweaty sitting at a desk all day, working on this stupid case, made her. And the sounds. Oh, the sounds were what brought all this experience straight from hell together. The occasional footsteps outside the office, Colt breathing down her neck, the ticking of the clock she hadn’t bothered checking yet. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Then it finally happened.
Shelly practically flied off her chair from how abruptly she sat up, moving the desk a little in the process and tipping a pencil holder over. A groan of pure agony then escaped her from deep within. “Can you just STOP?” the woman practically shrilled. “I swear to God, if you keep BREATHING like that a minute more I’m gonna blow my BRAINS OUT!”, “Shelly-”, “AND WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THIS CLOCK WHY DOES IT KEEP MAKING THAT SOUND”
Colt took a step back, letting Shelly lash out completely, he was familiar with the way she operated. You can’t really stop it once it starts, you could just wait for it to pass and help after.
“We’re NEVER SOLVING THIS GOD FORSAKEN CASE”, ”Shelly-”, “This stupid idiot of a criminal is getting away and it’s all our fault, we’re just letting it happen, I’M letting this happen. AND WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU LOOKING AT” she continued her angry rant.
The man’s hand was now resting gently on the ranger’s back, in an attempt to ground her to the moment. “Not looking at anything,” He stopped for a second, looking at Shelly whose forehead vain was already twitching violently. “but maybe we should take a break for now.” He decided to continue.
She was quiet for a few seconds, then, lifting her head up from all the paperwork, she shot the sheriff a look that, if materialized, would slit his throat right off “Take. A break?”. “I CAN’T TAKE A BREAK NOW. I CAN’T TAKE A BREAK EVER I DON’T DO BREAKS, I DON’T NEED BREAKS, I-“ she was interrupted before going on with what seemed like an endless tirade.
“You need to relax, is what you need to do.” Colt was beginning to lose his composure as well, a slight southern accent seeping through each word.
“Easy with the accent slip up, cowboy, or people might actually start putting two and two together and find out you’re a certain someone’s son.” An irrelevant comment said out of pure frustration. Colt wasn’t usually bothered by this kind of friendly fire, but this fire was not, by any means, friendly. She spat those words with deep-rooted frustration. He knew it was just the anger talking, that she didn’t mean it, but that whole sentence burned through his patience like a match in a barn full of hay.
He closed his eyes shut and took a deep breath through his nose; there was no need to fuel this fight. It always came to this when they were working together. Not today. He started towards the door, his hands guiding Shelly by her shoulders towards the exit.
“What do you think you’re doing?” the ranger had calmed down enough as to not scream anymore, rather just speak on a slightly barked tone.
“I’m getting myself a coffee. You, on the other hand, are getting out of here because im starting to sense that this breakdown doesn’t have that much to do with the case.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” she stopped abruptly, tripping Colt involuntarily.
He sighed “I mean, when was the last time you took a break?”.
“I sleep like 7 hours a night, it’s more than enough.”
“Not referring to sleep, I mean when’s the last time you took a break? A real break.”
The woman stared at him blankly “define real break.”
“I don’t know, hung out with friends, did something for your own satisfaction, grabbed a drink?” he settled for a specific example “When’s the last time you hung out with friends?”
“I hung out with Amber the other-“
“When’s the last time you hung out with friends outside of work.”
Shelly paused. After a few moments of staring at her stammering for an answer Colt continued nudging her towards the door. “Wrong answer. For that you are not coming back here until tomorrow after you’ve done something to unwind. I can’t work with you like this. Heck, you can’t even work with you like this.”
“Heck?” Shelly laughed mockingly, but the door had already shut behind her.
“You can’t lock me out, I work here!!” she started knocking on the door aggressively.
“Oh I can, just watch me.” The sheriff’s voice was muffled on the other side of the door “go hang out with your friends, go to a bar, relax. I’ll be here working on the case, we’re not losing time.”. His voice was further and further away, he was walking back to his desk.
A groan of defeat escaped Shelly’s mouth as she started walking towards the precinct’s exit, slouching and muttering swears in Spanish.
The purple haired woman was sitting at the kitchen table, her finger hovering unsurely over the ‘call’ button. She decided not to call the sheriff once again and instead scrolled down her contacts list and finally settled on someone.
After a few rings, a raspy, feminine voice picked up: “Shellyyy, honey!! Haven’t heard from you in a while. Has the brawler life finally gone to your head?” the woman on the other end of the line seemed relaxed, playful.
“Tammy! How are you, miss you so much chica!” a smile crept up on Shelly’s face. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, she had gotten pretty absorbed in her work and forgot how good it felt to talk to her non-brawler friends.
“Miss you too! What have you been up to lately? Got any other friends you’ve replaced me with?” the girl laughed.
“No one could replace you, Tams.” She began a question but was cut off, probably from the delay.
“Not even that officer guy you keep talking about?” she teased.
“Officer?” the woman laughed.
“Yeah, or sheriff? I can never remember.”
Shelly started folding a discarded post it note she found on the table “Oh, yeah, no, he kicked me out of the office for today, said I can come back once I relaxed… I don’t know what he was on about.”
A knowing sigh on the other end of the line “Well you have the tendency to get a little intense at times,”.
“maybe it’s better that you get a little you time, Officer seems like he knows what he’s doing.”
“Maybe...” She didn’t bother to correct Tammy about Colt’s title. She went on “hey are you free tonight by any chance? I know it’s a little late to ask...”
“For you? I’m always free” the girl’s smile could be heard through the phone. “how about we go to that dive bar on West Street? Like old times.”
“Sounds great, Tammy.” Shelly smiled “See you there in 2 hours?”
“You bet! Hey is it ok if Shay comes too? It’ll be like a group reunion!”
“She’s more than welcome to! I miss getting in trouble with you girls.”
After a few more minutes of recalling old memories they had together, they hung up, Tammy to call their friend and Shelly to roam around the house and pretend to relax.
Time seemed to slow down whenever she was at home. She couldn’t even open her laptop or look through any papers for work. Unfortunately, Colt was right, she needed a break. After taking a well-deserved shower to get all that day’s work sweat off, she stumbled to the couch hoping to get some time to catch up on the detective novel she had been reading, but instead fell asleep right after about three pages.
she was woken up by the buzzing of her phone, a horrible, damned sound. After she opened her eyes, still heavy with sleep, it finally dawned on her that it was, in fact, already dark outside. The realization was all it took to jolt her awake and off the couch, searching frantically for something to wear, then remembering to answer her phone a little too late.
It went to voice mail “hey Shell, just checking up on ya! Shay and I will be there in 20. See ya, hon!”
Great. She continued her desperate search for any article of clothing, then settled on a slightly see through linen tank top in which she slept a few days ago, deciding it didn’t look like a pajama top (because it wasn’t) and didn’t smell worn either. Good enough. She pulled it over a black sports bra peeking out on the sides of her tank top, the outfit actually came together quite well and it was over all something she deemed appropriate for a bar. She didn’t bother with the pants, just pulling a pair of jeans discarded on the floor before she went out the door, fumbling with her phone to call a cab.
After a bumpy (to say the least) ride with a cab driver that seemed as if he just got his license yesterday, she closed the door of the taxi and went on inside searching for her friends.
The music was louder than she remembered, the ceiling lights too low to make up any faces, with the occasional glowing rays of the ‘party lights’ partially blinding her as they hit her face.
Not even with her vision could she see what exactly was happening there in that moment, she awkwardly stumbled past the people dancing in the middle of the room towards the bar so she could get a better view from afar.
“Come around here often, Hon?” the same voice from earlier on the phone greeted her playfully.
As she turned her head, Shelly was met with two familiar faces which, truth be told, she hadn’t seen in a while. The one that welcomed her had a tall, slander figure, with wavy, dirty blonde hair and a serene face. Her tired eyes lighting up as she saw her old friend, and usually pouty lips forming into a smile as she went in for a hug. The other slightly shorter with an athletic build and an ever-present smirk on her face, straight, jet black hair cascading over her shoulders as she too joined the hug.
“the vibe here is not what it used to be” Shay said jokingly yet still a little disappointed.
“I remembered this place a lot more… calm.” An amused huff coming from Shelly.
“you two are just buzzkills, I bet we won’t have that problem with a few drinks in our system!” Tammy told both off playfully, wrapping both arms around their shoulders and signaling the bartender a quick ‘come here’.
While Tammy was ordering, Shelly rested her hand on the small of her back and hung her had forward to get a better look at Shay, mouthing a silent ‘I missed you, guys’, to which the other responded mouthing back ‘we missed you too’.
She couldn’t help the smile that crept up on her lips as she thought that, had she not been forcefully kicked out the office, she wouldn’t be here with her old friends now. And for the first time in months, work was not the first thought on her mind. Maybe she could do this more often. Maybe if she relaxes now, the answer she’d been looking for will come more easily tomorrow. She shook her head, trying to get back to the moment in which she was now, not earlier today, not tomorrow, no work thoughts. No work thoughts.
“So, I heard Officer kicked you out today” while Shelly had been lost in thoughts, Shay had switched places with Tammy so they could talk, well more like half-scream as the music was far too loud for a normal talking volume.
“Is that how we’re calling him now?” Shelly snorted. She liked the downgrade from sheriff.
“We can call him Ronald McDonald for all I care, that’s not what was important” Shay continued.
“Couldn’t find any other redheaded character?” Shelly was full on laughing now.
“You’re changing the subject! Why did he kick you out?”
Shelly winced as she remembered her meltdown from earlier today “I got upset over a stupid case I can’t seem to solve, said some things…” she winced even harder remembering her words.
Luckly her train of thought was quickly interrupted “She said she should relax tonight, this conversation is not helping her relax, Shay, look at her face.” Tammy budged in to save her from overthinking. Or thinking about the interaction as a whole. “You know what will help her unwind ?” she didn’t let either one of the girls begin to guess as she handed each one a little glass with a salt rim and lime slices “Shots.”
“You still party just as hard, I see…” Shelly said, laughing nervously, wondering if beginning the night with a tequila shot was a good idea.
“Hell yeah, sister, we’ve been given another shot at life, better use it the right way!” Tammy retorted.
The three of them had met in college, they were part of the same rehabilitation program for rogues and misguided young minds. All had similar stories, Shelly however, had been the only one out of them to get powers from the gem radiation. Tammy grew up in the slums of Retropolis, forced to fend for herself from a young age. She had always been a smart kid with a kind heart, her parents had died due to gem radiation and the rough circumstances just pushed her towards a life of crime. Now she has just finished her PhD in Radiobiology.
Shay was an extremely intelligent child with passions way beyond any other kid her age’s comprehension. She loved building, programing anything related to that field, but never had enough money for parts, so she started stealing old Starr Park robots’ scraps. When that wasn’t enough, she hacked into StarrCorp’s labs and stole some of their most valuable cutting-edge technology. She is now the lead engineer for StarrCorp’s gadget department.
“You know what,” Shelly lifted the glass, downing it quickly, “who am I to argue with your logic?”.
Tammy and Shay both followed with a ‘cheers!’.
The drinks were flowing and the atmosphere started seeming better and better. You truly didn’t need Belle’s to see life through rose colored glasses when you had access to alcohol. One whiskey on the rocks went down with ease after getting warmed up with tequila. Then another.
“so, this Officer…” Shay asks, toying with the little olive on the skewer of her martini, “is he hot?”.
Shelly throws her head back and laughs a hefty laugh.
“Noo, come on, don’t laugh! Show us a pictureeee” Tammy backs Shay up.
“Well I don’t haave any” the ranger makes a sloppy dismissive motion with her hand “and what does it matter if he’s hot or not?”
“Ooooooohh, someone’s getting defensiivee” Shay points the now empty skewer towards Shelly, making a teasing circle motion.
“I’m not defensive, I’m just saying that even I he were, it wouldn’t be worth the sass.” She laughs in her cup.
“that wasn’t a no” Tammy garbles, squeezing the purple haired woman’s forearm lightly.
“Come on just answer the questiooonn, Shellyyy” Shay practically begs like a spoiled child, upon realization she adds shyly “I should get a glass of water…”.
Shelly looks down at her glass, then around the room, not meeting either one of the girls’ eyes “in-SANELY hot.”. The statement earns her a happy ‘woooo’ from both her — tipsy by now — friends. “I mean, I don’t even know how looking that good is even possible! And don’t get me started on that accent, God the southern charm is real! And he smells so good all the time, I genuinely don’t understand, does that son of a bitch not sweat? God I just wish I could burry my face in his chest and take a whiff.” it was like the cork of a champagne bottle had popped and now she couldn’t stop the flow of thoughts from cascading and flooding her entire mind. These weren’t things she could tell Amber or Jacky, not to mention Piper. Even more than that, these were things that she didn’t even admit to herself, but she’d be lying if she said she never looked at Colt that way. It would be hard not to “Tell you what, that man is sex on legs!” she stammered without even thinking, not that she could think properly. It might as well have just been the alcohol. Yeah. That was it. Just the alcohol. “barkeep!” she caught herself shouting across the bar “another round of shots please”.
Her two friends were laughing themselves off their bar stools at the confused expression of the bartender “Shelly, baby, try ordering in English maybe.” Tammy managed through wheezes.
“Was I not speaking English?” Shelly’s eyes went wide.
“No, sweetie, you haven’t been for a while” Shaye patted her on her shoulder, trying to stop herself from crying laughing.
“The downside of being bilingual, I guess!” Tammy exclaimed, her hand rubbing circles on her back supportingly.
Shelly’s laugh boomed through the room, cheeks going red at the thought that she didn’t even notice switching languages, the burst of laughter so sincere it felt like a relief, like something lifted off her heart. Then again, it could’ve been from finally admitting those things from earlier out loud.
“What were you saying about Officer? We stopped understanding after ‘insanely hot’.” Shay asked, her words slured slightly.
“I’m gonna need that shot if I wanna say those things again.” Shelly (partially) joked.
Another ‘cheers!’ followed as the three glasses clinked, the hard liquor spilling a little from the uneven movements.
“I was saying that he’s a massive dork. He makes such a big deal of not swearing. Like, ever! Just today, he told me to get the ‘heck’ out.” The tint on Shelly’s cheeks was starting to become more obvious by the second and while the alcohol may have played a part, it certainly wasn’t the only reason.
In a moment of silence between the trio, a familiar base started playing. “Wooooo! This is my gemmm, come on let’s dance!!” Tammy shrilled at the top of her lungs while grabbing both Shay and Shelly by the hand and starting towards the, now even more crowded, dancefloor.
“You girls go, i don’t really do crowded dance floors. I get enough tackling and stumbling on people in the battlefield” Shelly freed her hand gently from Tammy’s grip while signaling the bartender with the other.
After the girls had gone dancing, the purple haired ranger turned towards the bar table and took her phone out of her pocket, swiping through her last calls. 7 going out to Colt and none answered. ‘Mierda.’ She had just remembered what she said to him… the classic “you’re just like your mother.”, what a dick move. It was unfair to him too, he was really nice to her today. ‘so nice…’ she caught herself thinking. She took another gulp of her whiskey and made her decision. A decision so cliché that everybody is bound to make at some point In their lives. And now was her turn.
The phone rang. It ringed and then it ringed some more until finally, the seconds appeared on the screen, which meat he picked up.
“I thought I told you, this workaholic attitude isn’t going to help you in the long…” but he was cut off by something he did not expect.
“Colt? Sheriiiifff! Pistoleroo, I’m so sorry I said that. I didn’t mean it!” a hiccup interrupted her, but she went on “about you mom, I mean. You’re nothing like her. You’re so sweet and nice”
“Shelly where are you?” He couldn’t believe his ears. Never in his life had he seen his coworker and,well, friend, in such an inebriated state, actually, he was pretty sure nobody had ever seen her in this state before. He didn’t know whether to be amused or concerned, right now he was a mixture of both.
“And caring, and hot! And you make me so mad, I don’t know why I still choose to spend my time with you, but I don’t feel right alongside anyone else. I didn’t know I could feel these things for someone up until now. Thank God you don’t know Spanish, gringo.” By now, Shelly was speaking in full Spanish, but not because she hadn’t noticed, no, this time she figured she could get this things off her chest by telling him to his face, his pretty, pretty, stupid, arrogant, handsome face. Well not to his face per se but somewhere along those lines.
Colt had just gotten off work when Shelly called the last time, by now he was in the car, but didn’t start driving home just yet, he couldn’t focus on the road with what he was just hearing. While Shelly was so shamelessly professing her newfound attraction, two other voices echoed in the backround “Is that Officer you’re talking to?” and “Hiii, Officer we want to see youuu!”.
Oh. Oh, this was great. The grin plastered on the Sheriff’s face said all it could say about just how bad Shelly will regret ever calling him in the morning. But first, it was time to pick up his very drunk friend from the bar.
“Shelly, give me your location, I’m coming to pick you up.” Colt said after managing to find a second of silence before Shelly continued her drunk confession, or before her friends started hollering again for ‘Officer’ which by now, he believed was his nickname.
“Noo, don’t come pick me up I’m having FUUN!! Isn’t that what you wanted, pistolero?”
He couldn’t really argue against that “Well forgive me, it hadn’t crossed my mind that you’d get blackout drunk, I’m not judging you by the way.” He felt the need to add “I’m just surprised, it’s usually what I do.” He laughed one of his cocky laughs.
On the other end of the line, a few muffled groans and shifty sounds could be heard “She’s not gonna tell you so I will, cause I wanna see that hot sheriff ass she’s been talking about, hi, im Shay! You know the dive bar on West Street? It’s just one bar on that street actually, just come there!”
Shay proceeded to then hang up the phone. “Now come dance with uss!! We don’t know how much we’ve got left with you until Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes Officer comes to take you awayy!”.
She finally agreed and went ahead stumbling into the crowd. Shelly didn’t like dancing, however, the reins had been already taken over by Drunk Shelly tonight, so what could some dancing do, she wouldn’t remember it in the morning anyway.
In half an hour time, Colt had arrived and was looking frantically across the bar for his — by now — beyond-inebriated friend, when he heard some stifled screams from somewhere near the center of the bar table “Officer?” “Is that him?” after turning his head in the direction of the voices, a very drunk, very dizzy Shelly greeted him by stumbling head first into his chest.
“You always smell so good I wish I could just breathe your cologne all of the time.” He didn’t know what to do with his hands, so he just kept them up, hovering around her so as to catch her if anything happened.
His hands gripped her sides firmly at the first sign of stumbling. “How much have you had to drink?” he managed to half-talk-half-shout out over the music. He didn’t necessarily wait for an answer and started walking shelly towards a bar stool while signing to the bartender for a glass of water.
“Wouldn’t you like to know.” Shelly wasn’t particularly easy to deal with sober, but when drunk it was a real nightmare tailored for people with a patience of steel. “But if you are so interested, I went for a Colt Special tonight. Wanted to see how drunk you usually get.”.
Colt’s little pigment drained from his face when he heard his friend’s order. He was a heavy drinker, usually not leaving the bar at least 5 drinks in and it was true that he liked cocktails, but he would only enjoy those on occasion. His usual go to was scotch. It wasn’t as sugary as the rest of the drinks. Wasn’t as enjoyable either — no hard liquor was, alas, they got the job done right and fast — , but he had to be careful, count his calories, he had to keep in shape for the magazines and whatnot.
He was also at least 50 pounds heavier than Shelly, something he pointed out to her as well. One thing was for sure, Shelly was wasted. He had to admit, it was amusing seeing her like this. I mean, it was her after all, constantly-displeased, rigid, serious Shelly. Drunk Shelly. He thought as he handed her the glass of water.
The woman swatted the glass away with a quick motion, then hung her head back and snorted a laugh “Careful, cowboy, don’t try to ruin my mood.” She poked his chest a few times “This is what you wanted.”
He sighed softly, a tired smile creeping up on his face as he realized Shelly wasn’t going to cooaperate anytime soon. “I’m not trying to ruin your mood, I just wanna sober you up a bit.” One of his hands went to the back of Shelly’s neck, gently stabilizing her, while he put the glass to her lips with the other. “Please, Shell…” and this time it didn’t sound like earlier, like a cocky demand. It was a genuine plea, his gaze soft, piercing through Shelly’s walls even more in her current state. She finally accepted the water, taking the glass in her own hands after a few sips.
In that moment, the sheriff finally had time to acknowledge the two women sitting at a small distance, staring at him wide-eyed. It wasn’t unusual for him to get that reaction out of people; he was an objectively good-looking man, women and men alike would do this quite often. He turned his head to better analyze them and gave a small wave, a dimple forming on his chick from the confident smirk making its way right back on his face as if it never left.
“Nice to finally meet you, Officer!” Tammy extended her hand towards him. “Colt, call me Colt,. And you would be..?” the redhead said while shaking the blonde’s hand.
“Tammy, the other one behind her is Shay” Shelly said, putting her glass down sloppily. “They’re my friends from Uni! From the program you put me in.” she added.
“The program you put her in?” Shay asked, fumbling her words.
“Well I wouldn’t say I put you in that program. I was just the one to catch you, right Shell?”
“Right.” She woke up abruptly, but only for a second. “Don’t call me that.”
If it hadn’t been for her reproach, the nickname would have probably gone over the other two’s heads. “’Shell’? now that doesn’t sound very professional, does it?” Shay’s lips curled into a grin, eyeing the two rangers intensely.
An agitated expression made its way onto Shelly’s face, but before she could say anything, Colt responded “Well picking your colleague up from the bar at 1 in the morning also isn’t very professionl, but that’s what friends are for.” He always had a way of diffusing the tension. Shelly wouldn’t admit it sober, but she liked that about him. With him by her side things were always a little less difficult to go through.
“Speaking of wihich, we should probably get going.” He extended his hand to help his friend up from the bar stool. His palm was now on the small of her back as she leaned into it. Taking one last look at the girls, he added “Need me to drop you girls off somewhere?”.
Tammy gave a smile and waved her hands in a dismissive motion “no need, Officer, just take care of our friend.”
“It was very nice to finally meet you! Maybe we could hear more about your guys’ story sometime after you’re done with the case. Looks like our Shelly doesn’t like letting too much known.” Shay finally mustered up the courage to say something after ogling him for the better half of the time he’d been there.
The four have parted ways after saying their goodbyes. Shay and Tammy rejoined the fun of the dive bar while Colt guided a verry dizzy Shelly back to the car.
“You had friends in college?” the man laughed softly
The tiredness in his voice was much more audible now that they were no longer in the bar with music booming in their ears. All that noise from before was now replaced by the calm quietness of the city, it wasn’t still, like nights at the Ranger Ranch. Cars still passed by regularly and people still frequented the streets, the city didn’t fall fast asleep like in the country side. Yet, conversations felt more intimate here, like people didn’t care, they were preoccupied by their own problems, their own discussions. It felt like it was just the two of them walking down the street. Peaceful. It was nice.
“Zip it, vaquero.” Shelly punched him in the arm playfully, losing her balance in the process. Luckly, Colt’s grip on her waist didn’t waiver.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this drunk”
“I don’t think I’ve ever been this drunk,” the woman laughed “not since college anyway. Ever since then it was just me and my work. I feel like I must constantly prove I’m worthy of this position. Like if I messed up I could lose everything. ”
The woman said everything with a fint smile on her lips, however Colt couldn’t help but purse his lips at her words. He had always known Shelly for the extremeness with which she treated her job. He knew her past and he knew the struggle, but he hand’t imagined the toll it took on poor Shelly. He didn’t say anything, he just brought her closer to him. A poor attempt at gesturing something his mouth couldn’t mutter yet: ‘I’m here for you’.
A few moments had passed while walking in silence before shelly spoke again. Softer this time, wraping her hand around his back and leaning on him a bit more. “Thank you. For tonight I mean. I can’t remember the last time I haven’t thought about work.”
When Colt finally spoke, his voice was tender “we all need breaks from time to time. It’s important that we acknowledge it.” He coughed, feeling the conversation shifting into a ‘too raw to talk about while sober’ zone. “Burnout really isn’t a joke, you know” he added jokingly, trying to take away from the uncomfortable rawness of the moment. “Don’t thank me, you did most of it all by yourself. You sure got drunk for the both of us combined.”
Shelly smiled burying her face in Colt’s side in shame “I did’didn’t I?” she let a few moments pass then asked how much more they had to walk till the car, and lucky for her, it was just around the corner.
Colt opened the car door for her and waited until she finally managed to plop in her seat, shifting slightly to find a position she deemed ‘right’, after that he hopped at the wheel.
he watched as she struggled to buckle herself in for about a minute, always failing to find the socket. “Need help with the seatbelt?”
She gave him a determined look while sloppily messing with the buckle “I got this.”
The man let her struggle for another minute while laughing to himself before finally taking the seatbelt from the ranger’s hand and fastening it in himself.
The drive was peaceful; Shelly wasn’t one of those bad kinds of drunk. She was just weirdly grateful, she even fell asleep a few times while talking about something only she could understand, and even that was debatable. After about 15 minutes they had arrived at her apartment building where Colt sat 5 more minutes in the car debating if or how to wake Shelly up and admiring probably the only time he’d ever seen her that at ease. Unfortunately, he needed her keys to get in the complex and she was the only one who knew where she put them.
Fortunately, Shelly was one light sleeper, she was always alert and so she woke up when the sheriff was unbuckling her seatbelt, the cold air from the open car door hitting her hot face and making it painfully obvious that she had drooled a little in her sleep.
“Hey Shell, where’re your keys?” Colt’s voice whispered from above while still messing with her seatbelt.
“Pocket.” she muttered, wiping away the little string of saliva from sleeping off her face.
Colt blushed a little at the thought of searching her backpockets for the keys “Can you grab it for me?”
Shelly woke up a little more when she realized what him looking for it through her pockets implied and shifted in her seat a little then procured her keys from her jeans.
“Okay, now.” Colt said as he helped the woman up from the car to walk towards the complex door. It took a few stumbles for him to give in completely. “Don’t freak out now” he bent down a bit “I’m gonna pick you up, ok?” and with that he lifted her off the ground and carried her home. The hardest parts of the walk to her apartment were the two times he needed to use the keys and the one time he had to press the button for the elevator, when he had to put her down, but not without a few murmured protests from the purple haired ranger.
After a few failed attempts to find the light switch, colt finally managed to turn them on and plop shelly down on her couch then finally sit down himself after a long, long day of work and taking care of his drunk-off-her-ass friend.
Right as he closed his eyes and sighed in relief Shelly woke up abruptly tugging at his shirt’s sleeve.
“I can’t sleep. Room’s spinning”
If she had been sick or anything else, he wouldn’t have known what to do, but insobriety was nothing new to him. “Okay, Shells? We’re going to the bathroom, you’re going to try to throw up.”
“Throwing up’s for pussies, I don’t do throw-up.” the woman slurred.
But Colt was already leading her to the bathroom with a throw pillow in his hand.
“what’s that for?” asked Shelly, eyeing the odd object the man decided to take with him.
“it’s so you don’t hurt your knees when you sit to throw up”
He stopped protesting, throwing the pillow down in front of the toilet bowl and gently gesturing the woman to sit down “Ok, it’s so you don’t hurt your knees when you sit to not throw up”
He sat down near her, grabbing her hair delicately into a ponytail in his hand and rubbing gentle circles on her back with the other and it was all Shelly’s system needed in order to understand what had to be done, with or without the willingness of its possessor.
“ ‘m never drinking…” she said while lifting her head from the bowl, looking as defeated as ever “again”.
Colt let out a silent, empathetic ‘Oh, dear…’, he was familiar with this moment. The very same promise rolled off his lips most nights when he overdid it on the alcohol, which was often. Fortunately he was there for her now, because what’s worse than being blackout drunk is being alone in these vulnerable moments, these God forsaken stages of drunkenness which, to him, felt worse than the hangover.
“’m hot!” the woman groaned, trying to peel off a strip of hair from her forehead but failing miserably.
“I know, honey.” Colt sighed, helping her with her hair.
“and sweaty.” She half cried.
“I know, honey.” He sighed again, understandingly, his hand moving to rub circles on her back again. “Are you feeling better? You need to throw up more or do you wanna get up?”
“Shower.” She pointed towards her bathtub.
“shower.” She crawled towards it, signaling patethically at her shirt.
“how about we leave showering for tomorrow when you’ll actually be able to stand on your own two feet, yeah?”
“now.” Shelly wouldn’t budge. She kept gesturing to colt to help her out of her clothes.
The man took a deep breath and complied to her wishes, peeling her sweat drenched clothes off her equally sweaty body. He knew sober Shelly wouldn’t let him hear the end of it tomorrow, but he also knew how gross you feel in that moment and he remembered the countless times he passed out on the bathroom floor, crawling towards the shower, barely feeling like a person, and more like a mindless animal wallowing in its own fluids, unable to do anything for itself. He had to help her.
“Can you take care of your underwear?” he asked after he was mostly done undressing her. He turned on the tap and adjusted it to a lukewarm temperature, not too hot so as to not make her feel nauseated but not too cold so she wouldn’t get shocked by the change in temperature.
Shelly gestured towards her sports bra. At first she tried getting it herself but her hands no longer listened to her. Colt intervened “Ok, here’s what we’re gonna do. Im gonna take your bra off and you’re going to hold it to your chest and get in the shower, yeah?” he started undoing the clips on the back “after you get in, I’m gonna pull the shower curtain and you’ll hand me your bra and take off your underwear, all right?”
Shelly nodded, following the sheriff’s instructions.
“I’m going to stay here, if you feel like you’re passing out just say and I’ll catch you.”
She knew she probably wouldn’t remember any of this in the morning. She’d been alone most of her life and hadn’t really felt the need for someone other than herself to keep her company. She hadn’t let many people in over the years, mostly because the majority of them felt like a burden to talk to, like nobody understood her and she hadn’t felt the need to understand them either. But the thought of someone caring for her this way was making her week in the knees. Not enough to call for Colt to catch her, but just enough to be grateful for such a good friend. She never would’ve imagined he’d be so patient, the man was known for his aloofness, he was nice to everyone but he kept his distance most of the time. The way in which he helped usually was by flashing a smile and saying a few empty words of encouragement. Likeable, but dethatched, nothing more. It was weird to see such an understanding part of him come to the surface, especially for her. She didn’t mind their dynamic, it was exactly what she needed, friends, but from a distance. They knew personal stuff about each other but neither bothered to go further, to comfort the other, to be there when they needed. Up until now. She made a mental note to thank him in the morning.
The woman turned off the tap, shaking away the shower thoughts that fogged her mind, then waiting for the man to hand her a towel.
“You ready? All toweled up?” colt joked from the other side of the shower curtain.
The purple haired ranger yanked it open to reveal herself, barely dried, wrapped up in a towel gesturing for the man to help her out. And he did, he lifted her from under her arms and gently set her down out of the tub, then guided her towards her bedroom where Shelly plopped herself down on the messy bed with piles of papers and files she fell asleep studying most nights.
“OK, clothes. Let’s find you some clothes.” Colt was walking around the room. looking for something resembling pajamas while shelly, with the little power she had left, pointed him towards her dresser from where he procured the first shirt and pants he found that looked comfortable.
Shelly never liked not being in control. Of the situation, her mind, emotions or of her body. Which was also the reason she normally didn’t drink much. But right now she was losing that battle. she was looking at the man sitting in front of her, asking her if she could get dressed by herself and was overcome by a sudden wave of piled up emotions, feeling her eyes tear up. She didn’t know why, she felt tired, powerless and weirdly grateful all at the same time. She doesn’t cry. She hadn’t cried in ages, but in the moment she shook her head ‘no’ and lifted her arms up for the redhead to pull the t-shirt over her body, the tears couldn’t be stopped any longer. He’d already seen her throw up and naked, in only her underwear, but somehow, she felt like Colt seeing her cry was a million times worse. Yet she couldn’t stop.
The man then sat beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and squeezing her tight, she apologized at least a dozen times and each time, she was met with the empathetic yet tired gaze of the sheriff, cupping her head in his palms and wiping away her tears with his thumbs, hushing her gently and telling her she has nothing to apologize for. In between sobs, shelly could see him from up close. He was falling apart as well. The ever-perfect Colt, from up close had tired eyes and messed up hair that was slightly curling up from sitting in humidity back in the bathroom, a few beads of sweat were trickling downhis face, some right above his lip line where a subtle stubble was growing, and he was nice. He resembled nothing she’d eves seen before. Not in the magazines with his face on them, not in the matches where he would always smile that cocky grin of his, not even when they’d work on cases together, when his stubbornness even matched hers at times. It was a whole ‘nother person, it was the Colt that remained after all his walls were torn down. Like peeling the layers of bark off a tree and getting to the very essence. What she saw now was a man free from the distorted perception glass of society, from the mold he’d shape himself in to be accepted by others. He was a man free of judgement. And he was beautiful.
After she had finally calmed down, the sheriff tucked her in and stayed a few moments more then got up as quietly and softly as he could. In that moment, Shelly’s hand did something even she hadn’t expected. She caught his forearm softly, tugging at him to sit back down. “Stay with me?” was all she could mumble before falling back asleep, this time for good.
When Shelly woke up her head was pounding like never before. She couldn’t remember how she got home or to her bed in pajamas and not feeling gross at all last night, but she did remember leaving her room a whole lot messier when she left for the bar.
She looked around, careful not to move her head too much so as to not trigger an endless wave of vertigo and saw the files and papers that were sprawled on the bed just one night ago, on her desk near the window. The clothes occupying the space on her desk were now neatly folded on the armchair near the bed.
When she pulled the duvet off her legs she saw that the only thing covering her bottom half was a towel wrapped around her waist. She finally decided to get up, pulled the pajama pants folded on the bed towards her and finally got fully dressed, then stumbled out of the bedroom and to the adjoined living room and kitchen.
The house looked much cleaner than she remembered. The carpets in the hllway vere vacuumed and the dust gathered up on her furniture seemed to have disappeared. The house smelled nice, well aired out from the windows being wide open and like freshly brewed coffee, together with a less noticeable but very pleasant scent, something cedary, awfully familiar.
The woman took a few unsure steps towards the living room, looking for the author of the crime, where she was greeted by a very raw (and rare) image. Colt was sitting at the kitchen table, only partially awake, looking out the window, holding a cup of coffee to warm his hands up. The culprit.
“You did all this?” her voice was groggy from sleep and from the killer hangover she was nursing, laced with a note of disbelief.
The woman took colt by surprise. He stood up and turned towards her. Only he wasn’t wearing his clothes from last night. His hair was disheveled and soft, losing its normal shape. He had a white tailored shirt on and a pair of grey sweatpants, much more casual than anything she’d seen him in so far. He took a few steps towards her, leaving his coffee mug and in its place, taking a big glass of water and a pill and handing them to Shelly.
The woman accepted his offer without much thought, any trace of skepticism gone after last night’s events. “That’s how you came dressed?”
He took a quick look down at himself then exclaimed “oh! No,” he laughed softly “ these are my gym clothes, I remembered I had my bag in the car. How are you holding up?”
“I feel like im slowly decaying from the inside.” She paused for a few seconds, then continued “I’m sorry about last night. Speaking of which,” she looked at him, guilt radiating from her entire being “what did I do last night?”
Colt huffed a laugh “nothing you need to worry about. You’re actually pretty reasonable when you’re drunk.”
Her voice quivered “And about my clothes, did we..?” she wasn’t going to finish her sentence, she hoped he understood what she was hinting at.
“Oh, noo. No, no. We did not.” He pursed his lips in a line then looked at her again, awkwardly “we didn’t, no.”
Shelly sighed in relief. And colt continued “You asked to take a shower, all I did was help you out of your clothes, but you took care of your bra and underwear yourself.” He paused “then I helped you with your shirt but you had the towel over you the entire time. You fell asleep right after so I just left your pants on the bed, figured you’d take care of that yourself when you’d wake up.”
“Cool.” was all she managed. Aside from the feeling of her insides slowly melting into a puddle of acid, now she was seething with shame as well. “cool cool cool.” She added again, avoiding Colt’s gaze.
The man was awkwardly sitting there, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, stammering for something to say, but they just walked together towards the kitchen table, sitting in an awkward silence.
“you shouldn’t feel ashamed, you know.” He broke the silence after a minute, voice shaking slightly, unsure if he should have said anything at all. “These kinds of things happen. They’re a part of life. Everyone’s experienced them at some point”
Shelly sighed, her head falling on the table with a gentle *thud*.
But Colt continued “And I’m not judging you, if it helps, it happens to me almost all the time. It doesn’t make you any less respectable in my eyes,” He blushed a little hearing himself “or in anyone’s eyes, thisisn’taboutme.”.
The ranger let out a muffled groan, she wasn’t good at these kinds of discussions, it didn’t mean she wasn’t at least a little relieved to hear him say it.
“Yeah, ok I’m stopping now. Sorry” he took the — quite obvious — hinst.
Shelly finally lifted her head from the table, a little red mark on her forehead from pressing too much on the surface. She looked at Colt who had now regained his (almost) ever-present grin. “well you seem in a much better mood than me today. What’s got you smiling like that?” she asked, not meaning to sound bitter but not being able to sound any other way.
“Oh, nothing,” he shook his head, “nothing” He paused for suspense “but I think you’d be happy to hear that I got a crack in the case.” His grin turned into a full-on smile now.
“Are you kidding?” suddenly, Shelly’s hangover didn’t seem to bother her anymore, “That’s fantastic!” she almost jumped from her seat from excitement.
“Oh and, one more thing” the sheriff’s eyes narrowed mischievously, something Shelly didn’t seem to catch.
“Well, don’t keep me waiting!”
“I don’t feel right alongside anyone else either.”
Shelly’s eyes widened in a mixture of fear and disbelief.
“I might not speak it, but I understand it just fine.” Colt grinned sheepishly into his mug before taking one more sip of his coffee.
