"This is gonna burn," Crystal said, holding an alcohol wipe over a cut on her wrist that trailed up her arm.

Ashe hadn't noticed it earlier in the midst of the fight, she had been more focused on the bullet wound. She hissed as the blue haired woman began to wipe gently at the wound, but she didn't otherwise flinch.

"There, that wasn't so bad, now was it?"

"Still hurt like a bitch," Ashe grumbled.

She'd opted to skip calling 911 and instead had the dispatch direct line pulled up and ready. She hadn't dialed it yet, waiting for Crystal to finish the worst part of applying the first aid she needed. Her left arm was wrapped in a makeshift tourniquet just below the shoulder to ensure she didn't bleed out, which might have been a very real concern given how much blood was on the concrete.

Crystal began unrolling some gauze and Ashe bit the bullet and pressed the call button switching it to speaker immediately. The operator picked up on the first ring.

"Dispatch, how may I direct your call?"

Ashe recognized the voice. "Hey Naomi, it's Ashe Hamilton. I've got a bit of an emergency here."

"Ashe?" the dispatcher asked. "Why didn't you call 911?"

She chuckled, then hissed as Crystal began to press the wound together and bind it up. "The emergency part is sort of over? A group tried to kidnap me and a concerned citizen came to my rescue. We have one dead and two injured among the suspects."

"And Ashe here is suffering from severe blood loss," Crystal interjected. "Some medical attention for her would be appreciated as well. There's an alley on Clarkson near Hoostle that is blocked off by a white van, we're right on the other side."

Ashe winced as the bandage was tightened. She wasn't surprised that she was cut up, as her Mom repeatedly reinforced, if you try to disarm someone who is attacking you with a knife, you will be cut.

You had to move without fear or hesitation, accept that you were going to get hurt and take them down quickly. Ashe had done just that and despite the advantages of the situation, she still ended up getting hurt. She was alive though and that was what mattered.

"Okay, I'm dispatching the closest car as well as two ambulances. Can you give me more details or would you rather wait for the officers to arrive on the scene?"

"Can you patch them in?" Ashe asked, trying to shake off the way her vision wavered. "Not sure I have it in me to repeat this twice."

"Understandable," Naomi said. There was a moment of clicking from the woman's keyboard. "Okay, officers Kendall and Reynolds will be on the scene in less than five minutes. I'm also notifying your parents because I already know Cat's gonna flip her shit over this."

Ashe groaned, wishing she could slink into the shadows and never return. Crystal didn't seem to enjoy the idea anymore than she did, as she kept looking back to the back alley and biting her lip. She couldn't help but wonder if Crystal might have a warrant, or more likely she just had something illegal on her. Well, beyond the blunt she offered earlier.

Ashe hissed as the bandage was tightened and tied off. Turning a glare upon her rescuer, she was met with a smug little smirk.

"All done," Crystal said. "You did good. Your pain tolerance is impressive."

Ashe looked away, she probably didn't have enough blood left in her to manage a blush anyway. She had to remind herself that it could have been worse, that nobody could have come to help, that she might have been shot in a worse spot. So many worst case scenarios that she just didn't want to consider.

"You're providing onsite medical care?" Naomi asked.

"Just basic first aid to Ashe," she answered. "I don't help human traffickers as a rule, they can suffer until the EMTs get here."

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that," Naomi muttered. "This call is of course being recorded, but officer Kendall is listening in if you would like to start going over what happened."

Crystal's eyes widened, then she pulled close enough to Ashe that she could feel the heat coming off of her. She was already feeling faint, but such close proximity to such a beautiful woman in her personal space, well, it wasn't helping things.

"Don't say shit," Crystal whispered into her ear. "You can't trust cops not to use anything you say against you."

Ashe rolled her eyes, not particularly impressed with the warning. "I was jogging home when I was grabbed off the street at gun point. While being pulled into an alley near Merigold's, I managed to break away and run. Most of the alleys were blocked and when I found one that wasn't, I was greeted with a brandished gun."

Crystal muttered curses as Ashe recounted the events, but she didn't care. There was no reason for her to not trust the police, they were practically family after all. She recounted being forcefully searched, how they had grabbed her… Bile returned to her throat and she had to bite back a sob at recounting the memories.

A soft hand began to run circles along her back and she flashed Crystal a grateful smile. Then she recounted fighting back and Crystal's arrival. She started to gush about the woman, but Crystal cleared her throat.

"Ashe, you're getting things jumbled," Crystal said. "First of all, I only drew my gun when I saw they were armed. Second, I didn't shoot until they did and only shot the one with a gun."

"Understood," Naomi said. "Can I get your name for the record Miss?"

Crystal swallowed heavily, once more glancing back to the alley. "Can I remain anonymous? I have concerns about my safety."

"We can leave your name out of any press releases, but we do need your name for the official records."

"My father is gonna kill me," Crystal grumbled. "Crystal Fairbrook."

Ashe silently filed that name away for later.

"Thank you," Naomi said, typing once more. "Kendall has located the van and will be joining you shortly."

Sure enough, even as she said it, the blue uniform poking its way around the van was a welcome sight to Ashe. Officer Kendall was a family friend, having been on the force for over a decade. He had a bit of a gut, but wasn't overweight like his partner. He took a moment to survey the scene and check the pulse of the gunman before he moved over to the other perpetrators.

"Okay, I'm going to turn the scene over to the responding officers, but I will continue to listen in and file the appropriate reports. Also, your parents have been informed and are on their way, and before you ask, I made them get a driver."

Ashe choked out a bit of a chuckle at that. "Thanks Naomi. Sorry to dump all this paperwork on you like this."

"Think nothing of it Ashe, we look out for our own."

She smiled even as the call ended and regarded officer Kendall who was looking upon the grisly scene before his eyes fell on her and immediately softened. He then proceeded to ignore the body, or the groaning, restrained men and hurried over to her. He did pause for a moment when he came up to Crystal, but pressed on regardless.

"Ashe, you look like shit," he said with a soft smile.

She rolled her eyes, but smiled all the same. "At least I'm not going bald."

"Oh no, she's delusional and hallucinating," he deadpanned. "Reynolds, you okay back there?"

"Fuckin' peachy," the man answered, fighting to squeeze past the van. "Shit's parked too damn close to the walls."

"Just get your ass in here already," Kendall said as he stood. "We have two injured suspects, the injured daughter of our direct supervisor, who also happens to be the victim, one dead bastard and one armed Samaritan. Speaking of, miss, where is your gun?"

Crystal looked between officer Kendall and Ashe for a moment before sighing.

"Shoulder holster," Crystal said, reaching up towards it before she aborted halfway. "Left shoulder, er, my left."

"Got it," he said, putting on his best smile. "We will need that for evidence, but it shouldn't be more than a seventy two hour hold given this looks like a clear cut case."

"Sweet Jesus!" Reynolds exclaimed as he finally made it past the van. Everyone turned to see the overweight officer covering his mouth at the sight of the slumped over gunman. "His head's busted open like a summer melon."

"Very astute observation," Kendall said. "How did you make the SWAT team again?"

"His dad's a retired captain," Ashe said before she could think better of it. She slapped a hand over her mouth, because she wasn't supposed to have overheard her mom bitching about that neat little bit of nepotism.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

"Anyway," Kendall cut in. "Crystal, right?" At her nod, he continued. "I would just like to say thank you for being a concerned citizen and helping someone in need. What you did took real bravery."

"Way to patronize her," Ashe muttered. "She's not twelve."

Kendall sighed. "No, but she did kill a man to save you, and is likely dealing with the trauma of that in her own way. You should try taking those crisis intervention classes your mother recommends sometime, they're quite helpful."

"Maybe when I actually sign up for the academy," Ashe said, looking away.

"Now," Kendall continued, turning his attention back to Crystal. "When you realized what was happening, why didn't you call the police right away?"

"She needed immediate assistance," Crystal said, still on edge but some of the tension had left her. "Sorry to say, but your response time often leaves a lot to be desired."

"You could have still called and followed them," Reynolds said. He was checking over the broken nosed asshole at the moment, muttering something Ashe couldn't hear at the groveling bastard. Was that Jeff? She couldn't quite remember.

"Didn't want to risk them doing something stupid," Crystal said. "I've seen those bastards do some dumb shit before when spooked."

Reynolds looked up, eyes narrowing at Crystal as he did.

"Alright, you're not trained regardless, so we can overlook some things," Kendall said. "Again, I'd like to reiterate, what you did was absolutely the right thing, and off the record?"

Crystal tilted her head even as Kendall leaned in and raised a hand to his mouth.

"That was some damn good shooting."

Crystal blinked in surprise as Kendall winked at her. He then turned and joined his partner in checking over the scene, leaving Ashe somewhat alone with Crystal. She wanted to just lay down and take a nap, but her first aid courses told her that would be a bad idea.

"Hey, you okay?" Ashe asked, despite her heavy eyes.

"Yeah?" Crystal said as if it was obvious. "Kinda funny coming from you considering everything."

Ashe hummed, letting herself lean to the side. "You just seemed worried about something, that's all."

"Oh, that," Crystal said. "My, uh, father. He's the type that would try to make a bigger deal of something like this than he should. I just don't want to deal with it, and he has no business knowing about it."

"Lucky," Ashe whispered. "My mother is gonna flip when they hear about this, never mind Mom…"

Ashe began to hum, timing it to the sounds of distant sirens that were steadily growing louder. She was vaguely aware of Kendall going over to the van and moving it out of the alley and other people coming back in with him. One such person came over to her and began to speak with Crystal about the bandages she had applied, then she felt a sharp prick on her arm.

"Ashe!" her mom yelled, running over. She was in uniform, likely having been on patrol herself when she was diverted. One of the paramedics stepped between them, stopping her from just running up, but she wasn't stalled for long. "Oh god, are you alright? Please tell me this looks worse than it is."

"She's lost a lot of blood," the paramedic explained. "She's not in immediate danger but she isn't thinking clearly at the moment. A bullet grazed her shoulder and she has a four inch laceration on her right arm starting at her wrist."

"You should see the other guys," Ashe said, groaning as she was enveloped in a tight hug. "Mom, crushing…"

"You're alive," she whispered, Ashe stiffened. "When Naomi contacted me, I feared… Oh honey, I'm so sorry."

Ashe couldn't hold it in any more and began to sob into her mom's shoulder, returning the hug weakly despite her desire to do more. Her fingers dug into her mom's uniform as the pair held one another.

"Don't be sorry," Ashe said after she calmed down. "Your training kept me alive."

"She was pretty damn badass," Crystal said with a nod. "Kept her cool in the face of danger too."

"I'm sorry," her mom said. "Who are you?"

"She's the one who saved me," Ashe said, smiling up at the blue haired woman. "I'm still a bit light headed, but if I forgot to say it before, thank you."

"I couldn't stand by and do nothing, not when a girl was snatched right in front of me," Crystal said, then she slumped forward, arms crossed across her knees, resting her forehead on them. "Didn't expect to end up shooting someone though."

Ashe recognized that look from the few times her Mother had brought her to visit some officer that went through a bad use of force. It was always with that officer's permission, but she felt it was important that Ashe understood what it meant to work through guilt and memories. To say it had been chilling was an understatement, and she was starting to truly understand why.

"Each time we draw our weapon, it is with the hope that we don't have to use it," Mom said softly. "However, you should always remember that when you draw a gun, it is with the expectation that you will need to pull that trigger. If you brandish a weapon, especially one as deadly as a gun, you are bringing the expectation of lethal force and had best be prepared to follow through before someone else does the same to you."

"Unfortunately," Crystal muttered, still not looking up.

"Hey," Mom said, gently drawing Crystal's gaze. "You saved my daughter's life, and I will be forever grateful for that. If you ever need anything, you have friends you can turn to."

Crystal blinked, some emotion flashing across her eyes that Ashe couldn't recognize. "Thank you, officer Hamilton."

Ashe couldn't deny that there was something about those eyes that captivated her. She always found it cheesy when a book would describe green eyes, but she finally understood just what they meant. Crystal's eyes sparkled like the finest jade, a deep bottle green that she could wax poetic about for hours.

"Ashe, you're drooling," Mom chided teasingly.

Ashe would deny to her deathbed that she squeaked. Instead, she glared up at her mom who just held her hands up in surrender but her wide grin betrayed her. She knew that she was going to endure teasing worthy of a circle of hell for that as she wiped her mouth, and found that it wasn't as much of an exaggeration as she hoped.

"Do you have your ID on you?" Mom asked. It took Ashe a moment to realize that question was directed at Crystal rather than her.

"Ugh, yeah," she said, fishing a folding wallet from her hip pouch. Ashe wasn't surprised that it was a men's wallet as she still used one herself, they were just more convenient to carry than the bulky things they passed off as women's wallets. Those assumed a purse was being carried and wasted so much space. Besides, a purse in Jericho? You were just asking to be robbed if you carried one.

"Nice to meet you, Crystal. I'm sure we'll be seeing you around," Mom said before turning back to Ashe. "Come on, kiddo. While I can tell Crystal did an adequate enough job, you're not dodging a hospital stay over this. You'll need a full panel of screening and I want them to keep you overnight, bare minimum."

"Agreed," the paramedic said, startling Ashe. She completely forgot he was even there. "An observation period would be for the best, as well as getting her wounds properly cleaned and stitched."

Ashe's mom nodded, then moved to help the girl to her feet. "Oh, be sure you get Crystal's number if you're going to be that blatant about drooling over her."

She didn't think she'd ever been so embarrassed, even as the entire alley spun around her at the sudden shift. Both the paramedic and Crystal moved to help steady her, which didn't help all that much. Once Crystal seemed satisfied that Ashe was steady, she reached down and picked up her phone. She held it out with a raised eyebrow, and Ashe unlocked it without much consideration.

Crystal grinned and tapped away at it for a moment before her own phone dinged in her pocket. Ashe then watched as her phone was spun around to show a new contact as well as the text Crystal had just sent herself.

"There you go, baby gay. Be seeing you around."

She then sauntered off, none of the other officers paying her much mind as she slipped away. Ashe could only blink, because while she got the woman's number, she was also almost certain that she hadn't surrendered her gun for the investigation nor even been properly questioned.

Not that Ashe was going to point that out to anyone.