InsaneJournal

Current mood:	bored
Entry tags:	alcoholism, background, david, mpdc, prompts: quotable muse [lj]

[QM] 96: Double Indemnity
The cell cot isn't all that uncomfortable, Athena's decided. She's not big enough for it to fell cramped, and she's slept on harder surfaces before. Ignoring curious stares and suggestive remarks from the cell across from her isn't anything new either. So when the officer unlocks the door, she contemplates staying for a moment, keeping her eyes closed as she pretends to sleep. But then there's a second set of footsteps, the sound of a heavy sigh over her, and she opens her eyes, propping herself up on one elbow, to see a tired and frustrated David looking down at her, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Figures they'd call you," she tells him before closing her eyes again, settling back into the cot.

"They didn't call me," he says. "You did."

One eye opens again to look him over. "Oh. Don't remember that."

"Clearly," he sighs. "Do you even remember how you got here?"

"I think I tried to pick a fight with a homeless guy over by the zoo," she answers, already growing bored.

"Close," he says, "except it was outside your building, and it was a street light."

"Huh," she says, holding her hands up to examine them. "That explains the cast."

David pushes her legs over to sit at the end of the cot. Athena begrudgingly gives him the space.

"If it weren't for your fractured hand, they would've just taken you up to your apartment," he tells her.

"I'm sure I told them they could, regardless," she says with a shrug. "Would've been a lot less trouble for everyone."

"Except for you, with your broken hand," he points out. She smiles at the remark. He doesn't.

"Wouldn't be the first time," she murmurs.

"Athena," he starts, "I..."

"Love me," she finishes with a satisfied smirk. "I know."

"No," he bristles. "Look, I didn't come right away because I wanted you to sleep it off here."

"And here comes my big morality lesson, right?" she sighs. It's a routine they've gone through time and time again over the years, neither one ever gaining ground. But David seems determined to this time.

"You're a detective," he says, "a respected member of the force, and more than that, a sworn protector of the people in this city."

"Don't I do do all of that?" she demands. "Haven't I been doing all of that, in worse shape than I am now?"

"You can't keep this up," he tells her. "Because the next time, I'm not coming to bail you out."

She sits up then, leaning in close. For a moment, he thinks she's going to hit him from the way she looks at him, and his brief sound of surprise is muffled when she kisses him. The other cell erupts in whistles and hoots, quickly silenced by the officer's stern bellow.

"We both know you'll always come for me," she whispers, giving him a wink.

He looks at her for a long moment before standing and walking out of the cell, his head bowed. She gets up to follow him, but the officer swings the door closed before she can leave.

"I'll give you another night to think about it," David tells her through the bars. "I'm not fucking around here, Athena."

She locks gazes with him, looking completely bored by his umpteenth attempt to make her better.

"You have to stop," he urges. "This? A couple nights in holding? Is nothing compared to what will happen the next time."

"And what could that possibly be?" she asks, rolling her eyes.

"You know what," he sighs. "Getting kicked off the force. Rehab. Prison."

"That's what you've said the past five times," she says, walking back to the cot to settle in. With one last look before lying down, she gives him her defiant refutation of his warning.

"I've had worse."

Phyllis: "Suppose I let you off with a warning this time."
Walter: "Suppose it doesn't take."
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