Done In

[Kelle Lindsay, EMTP]

It wasn't until he woke her up that Kelle realized she had been dreaming, and that was lost when she started awake, leaving only an unsettled uneasiness.

But, in his sweet way, Steven distracted her.

“So we finally made it to Disneyland!”

"Dis...." Kelle's nose wrinkled up as she looked out the front window at the darkness. "We're not..." What the heck was he talking about?

“Look there’s Mickey Mouse and you remember Daffy Duck.”

"All I see is pizza," she muttered, frowning, then she shrugged. "And I thought you were Daffy...and isn't that Warner Brothers anyway."

Sitting up all the way, she glanced at her companion. "Oh, right, you're Dopey, right? Or is it Goofy?"

With that, she stuck her tongue out at him then hopped out of the car.

Steven Hudson

[Steven Hudson]

|| TAG: Kelle Lindsay, EMTP,|| WORDS: 0 ||
|| NOTES: ... ||

Steven smirked almost hearing the word Disney make it out of his partners mouth. “Ohhh now now, Warner Brothers and Disney are great in equal parts though yelling, So we finally made it to Warner Brothers Studios didn’t have the same ring to it.” He explained chuckling as he watched her wake up. Steven was hardly above tricks when it came to waking people up, his sisters knew that much but then again.

In his mind Kelle deserved the break and the idea that it might have been Disney land even for a second was worth it. “Dopey... seriously? Wow you really do need pizza like stat.” He joked grinning as he followed her out of the car locking it up as he stretched a little. Sat driving most of the night, worrying and trying not to freak out gave him creaks in all kinds of places as he held the door to the pizza place open.

“Think I prefer Happy or Sleepy maybe...ohh you could be sleepy.” He said smirking for a moment as he pulled out his wallet. “Or I could be hungry.. the eight dwarf.” Between sleepy and hungry it was a strange time in the morning to start with. Nothing unusual if he had been on shift but the fact he was off shift meant the usual few hours time to get used to all night calls had escaped him. “So pick your pizza? Hawaiian, pepperoni, mushroom?” He quizzed as he glanced over the options for a moment.

Red☠Frost

[Kelle Lindsay, EMTP]

"I'll take...choco-bacon..." Kelle's grin was a bit punchy, but she was giving in to the relaxation that fatigue and a strong sense of safety she had after a harrowing night. "Nah, let's go all out and get a combo...whatever you want is fine."

At this point she really didn't care, so long as..."Well, zucchini, anchovies and tomatoes...except for the sauce...just don't belong on pizza!"

Laughing, she shrugged. "'Sleepy', huh? At least you don't want to be 'Hunky' or 'Sexy' or something, so I guess that's good!" Impulsively, she linked her arm in his as they went inside, then she nudged him.

"Just order what sounds good, so long as there's nothing healthy about it...I want to live dangerously!" Then she stepped away. "I'll get us a table, you know, in case there's a 3AM rush! And if I fall asleep, no fair taking embarrassing pictures!"

Steven Hudson

[Steven Hudson]

|| TAG: Kelle Lindsay, EMTP,|| WORDS: 0 ||
|| NOTES: ... ||

Steven grinned watching Kelle closely, he wanted to make sure she was okay and even just having here right there where he could see her. It meant the world when previously he had been running through the various ways he was going to come across her after being kidnapped. Her ask for the pizza he went along with and if she had asked for anchovies sauce, he was hardly above saying he would gladly hand her back to the kidnappers for crimes against pizza.

“Ouch, well I already know I’m hunky and sexy so sleepy was the next best option.” He said smirking as he squeezed her arm lightly. “You go find the table and sure I get dibs on taking embarrassing photos.” He added as he proceeded to order the unhealthiest options he could find. Cheese, bacon, mushroom, chicken, pepperoni and of course nothing remotely healthy as he added a side of fries, onion rings and mozzarella sticks.

He had no idea what he was doing but 3am ordering was suddenly a great idea, coupled with coffee, soda and chocolate milkshakes. Who cared if he had just ordered a heart attack in a ten minute time frame. He was happy enough to try and dig into whatever was there. Steven waited for the drinks as he took the cold ones over setting them on the table. “Coffee coming soon and the food shouldn’t be too long.” He added grinning, “Looks like we beat the rush huh, maybe we need to do this more often. 3am is a great time for food.”

Red☠Frost

[Kelle Lindsay, EMTP]

As much as to amuse herself as to stay awake, Kelle wandered through the dining area, looping a couple times, passing the three tables that were actually occupied only once, pretending she was having a hard time finding a place to sit, then she finally flopped into a booth, wondering what Steven was going to order for them.

It was all she could do, in the few minutes she was sitting, to keep herself awake, and she had almost dozed off when he came back with the drinks.

“Coffee coming soon and the food shouldn’t be too long.”

"Shakes?" Her frown turned to a grin as she took a long swig of the creamy, chocolaty brew, then laughed and shook her head. "Man, you far exceeded my expectations! "Live fast, die young!" She raised her glass in a toast, then took another drink.

“Looks like we beat the rush huh, maybe we need to do this more often. 3am is a great time for food.”

"Good time for sleeping, too," she observed with a yawn, "but we seem to be making a habit of early-hour chocolate." If she'd had a brother, this would be it!

Sighing, she shook her head slightly as her eyelids started to droop. "Do you think I'm gonna have dreams?" Meaning 'nightmares'.

Steven Hudson

[Steven Hudson]

|| TAG: Kelle Lindsay, EMTP,|| WORDS: 0 ||
|| NOTES: ... ||

Steven nodded about the shakes, if his partner mentioned one word about diet or food groups or anything of the sort. The one thing he would point out was the time and drop her off at the station himself just for payback. “Oh yeah, live fast already... not sure about the die young, at least one of us could.” He said smirking for a moment, “Me obviously.” So young was barely a word associated with him these days, more older or mid life or really any polite way of saying, yeah you’re over thirty you’re doomed.

He raised his own glass in the toast as he took a drink, if anything his own steady diet of fried food was going to kill him faster than a shake. Though at least he could honestly say he tried, lettuce just was a side dish best served with fries on the side too. “Oh yeah I mean, sure you go get yourself kidnapped just for three o’clock chocolate, it’s a little far but I’ll go with it. Maybe next time skip the whole police involvement and I’ll just drive you right here myself.” He joked grinning though he smiled seeing her eyelids start to droop.

“I’d be more worried if you didn’t.” Steven said, there was nothing anyone could do about dreams other than talk and know they would pass. The brain had its own way of dealing with things and nightmares came with the territory. “Just know that whatever time, I’m on the end of a phone and besides dreams cannot hurt you.” He added, “So is there anything you didn’t tell me or the cop before? A reason for you to ‘dream’ about tonight or this morning?” He asked trying not to outright ask the question too directly.

Red☠Frost

[Kelle Lindsay, EMTP]

"Just the whole having-a-gun-shoved-in-your-face thing." Kelle managed a smile as she shrugged then took a drink of shake. "When I was a kid, I had this recurring dream that someone was in my room...some big guy in a black cape, not a nice guy. I'd wake up all scared, grab my cat an' hold her."

Another drag of shake. "One night I got th' bright idea to make him deathly allergic ta cats..." Man, she was tired! But long shifts had taught her to deal with it. Not that she wasn't a little loopy!

"Anyway, after that, he never came back. So, whadda think I should do with Mr. Kidnapper?" She gave Steven a lopsided grin. "Make him allergic ta sexy looks?"

Steven Hudson,

[Steven Hudson]

|| TAG: Steven Hudson,|| WORDS: 0 ||
|| NOTES: ... ||

“And you’re still sure he didn’t hurt you?” Steven asked wanting to believe what she said was true but if not, Kelle was hardly the first person to miss a few things out here and there. He listened carefully about the man in her room as he sipped on the shake he had. “Wait so you made some scary dude allergic to cats? Nice one.” He said with a grin, wishing he had known that for his sisters though he had a habit of scaring the scary people away before they got that far.

“Try it but then who’s giving him sexy looks?” Steven said with a grin, “Might want to make him into some sort of shark bait, I mean who isn’t scared to death of sharks?” He was unsure if it was the time of night or morning or just the events of the day but he was between buzzed and half dead already. The one thing he did know was he wanted to go and make the guy into shark bait himself, feed him piece by piece to a swarm of hungry sea life.

His mind could be a scary place at times but the one thing no one got to do was mess with the people in his life. So the guy had better hope that the CPD caught him first because if Steven did, he could see another jail half our coming his way. “Or you can make him into the marshmallow man from Ghostbusters?” He added not sure if that was a better option.

Red☠Frost

[Kelle Lindsay, EMTP]

"Marshmallow Man?" Kelle's nose wrinkled up, then she laughed and nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I can see it...all puffy and squishy! And he'd just be like a Nerf if he tried to hit anything!"

Realizing what that sounded like, she shook her head. "But he didn't, really, Steven, he never did anything to hurt me." Well, if you didn't count the threats of death, but she wasn't going to bring that up! "He was a gentleman, really..."

And then she realized how that sounded and sipped at her shake to keep her mouth occupied from saying stupid things!

"I'm not defending him, I'm just..." What? "...confused. Maybe it would'a been better if he'd...been mean, like you'd expect."

She sighed. "S'okay...I'm okay, CFD strong an' all that, right?"

Steven Hudson,

[Steven Hudson]

|| TAG: Kelle Lindsay, EMTP,|| WORDS: 0 ||
|| NOTES: ... ||

“Exactly and how dangerous is a Nerf?” He asked her though he regretted it as soon as he did, next shift there would likely be a life or death Nerf situation they could get called to. Who honestly knew in the world. Steven had jumped to a conclusion that the guy had hit Kelle the minute she said it though hearing her still tell him she was unhurt.

It was good to hear despite the fact he was trying to get his head around a kidnapper that let a person go. “Now I mean this with the upmost respect for you and don’t take it the wrong way. A gentleman does not kidnap people and I think you need therapy.” Steven stated with a slightly worried look, there was a syndrome attached to being held hostage and he figured hearing that the kidnapper was a gentleman. The inevitable had happened to Kelle.

“CFD strong don’t forget it.” Steven said with a smile as he took a drink of the milkshake. “The guy kidnapped you and it’s wrong, he held you against your will, also wrong and both things are very illegal. You do know that right?” He asked her as he shook his head, “I’m glad he wasn’t mean but just because you say he wasn’t I still think he was. Only a monster kidnaps a person.” In Steven’s eyes the case what as clean cut as it could be.

Stealing a human from a car designed to help people, it was a bad thing to do no matter what way it was split. The guy was a monster and Steven wanted to make sure that this never happened again, the guy needed to be arrested and strung up by the toes. Much much worse too but then he knew he was borderline monster too if he did anything like that.

Red☠Frost

[Kelle Lindsay, EMTP]

"Right, of course you're right." Kelle took a half-hearted bit of pizza, mulling her words over before commenting, "Of course it's not right to grab someone in the middle og the night, but he did it to save..."

Someone else he'd kidnapped, and shot in the process! There went any chance of making him seem a sympathetic character, and honestly...

"I don't understand it all myself, but I'm not going to a shrink."

For a long time now, she'd believed that most of psychiatry was a sham, you couldn't just peg people into holes and ostracize those that didn't fit. And more often than not, she thought that they could do more harm than good, telling you how you should feel and making you feel guilty if you didn't.

And suddenly, unexpectedly, Steven was the enemy, because if he decided to put the idea of her needing 'help' into the heads of Admin, she'd be stuck, and she really didn't want to be analyzed.

"Really, Steven, it's all right. I know what happened wasn't right, but I know it could have been a lot worse." For that, she was grateful! "And I know I have you to talk to if I need to."

Steven Hudson

[Steven Hudson]

|| TAG: Kelle Lindsay, EMTP,|| WORDS: 0 ||
|| NOTES: ... ||

“To save who?” Steven asked wondering what kind of games had been played on Kelle, he had to assume the worst because he had never met a decent kidnapper in his time. The one reason to take a medic was for their skill set that usually meant a hospital or doctor was a route a person could never go down. In itself that meant illegal in so many ways and people like that, Steven felt that there was no good left in them. They were far too far down any rabbit hole to know what they were doing.

Steven nodded, shrinks were far from his favourite people and he had spent enough court and fire department mandated hours with one to know what they thought. “Okay, no shrink but you know they are there for you.” He said in a very almost boss like way, well if it was him in Kelle’s shoes he would be running a mile from the mention of a shrink but then he was still trying to work her out and see what choices she would make.

For some it worked, for him he knew a bottle and a movie could fix anything unless he talked the ear off the wall. “Any time okay, day, night or in between you pick up your phone and call or even come around. I don’t mind.” He offered not wanting Kelle to think he was pushing her toward something she had an issue with. “I won’t judge you but what I will do is tell you if I think you’re nuts. In a totally unprofessional opinion that is.” He said with a grin.

Red☠Frost

[Kelle Lindsay, EMTP]

“To save who?”

Kelle sighed. God, she was tired. "To save the guy he shot while he was kidnapping him." Yeah, there was something to defend, right? But then, he could have just let the guy die...provided he hadn't done that later, after she'd been dropped off...

Yes, she was confused about it all, glad to be alive and unharmed, surprised to be alive and unharmed...

And really tired!

“Okay, no shrink but you know they are there for you.”

"Yeah, I know...and they aren't my enemy." Her tone was weary and accepting. "And I have you as my front line." She'd far rather talk to him if he'd let her, than go to someone who didn't know her and whose job was make her feel things she didn't.

“Any time okay, day, night or in between you pick up your phone and call or even come around. I don’t mind.”

"I know." And really, she did, even though they'd only been partners for a short time, she knew he was the kind of guy who looked out for those close to him, and that he could be trusted, and he'd be able to help her when she needed it.

“I won’t judge you but what I will do is tell you if I think you’re nuts. In a totally unprofessional opinion that is.” He said with a grin.

"Oh, well, what's the saying?" She grinned back. "'It takes one to know one'?" Chuckling, she munched on pizza then sighed. "I think I'll be able to think more clearly after I get some sleep. Food's helping, but it's been a long day...and we're about into a new one."

Fortunately, she was off today, but then, she figured she'd be off one way or another, but then, the idea of going home alone was a bit daunting. Still, she wasn't going to mention that.

"Best be getting some sleep. I think I'm done here, if you don't mind giving me a ride home...and there's pizza for breakfast later, so how good is that?"

Steven Hudson,

[Steven Hudson]

|| TAG: Kelle Lindsay, EMTP,|| WORDS: 0 ||
|| NOTES: ... ||

What was this guy? A kidnapper or a good guy. Steven was having a hard time deciphering what had happened to Kelle. “He wanted to save the guy he shot. Did he tell you why he shot him to start with?” Steven asked, he wanted to know the reason because at least then he could start to work out the mystery. It was a little like dropping off a patient at the emergency room. A few days later you might get a chatty nurse that might drop you a line on how patient X was doing but until then. You had your own mystery to deal with.

“Yes you do, no matter what it is okay.” Steven explained hoping she understood what he meant. He would be there any time because he knew how things could get to others, he had no experience with kidnapping or being kidnapped but he had ears to listen with. “Ouch thanks for that, I take it back you’re totally nuts then.” He teased though it was hardly the first time it had been implied though usually it came with a bit more of a bite than a joke.

“You’ve a point, no clue what day it is now.” He said as he glanced at his watch before nodding to Kelle. “Sure I’ll drive you home, pizza for breakfast is the best kind of breakfast. Portable, easy and already amazing.” He added as he laughed, “So want me to stay or you can stay at mine if you like? Plenty of room there.” So he might have a crazy mother to contend with but he had space, more like three extra rooms to play with given his sisters had moved out and he had turned a small box room into a camp bed room.

The joys of having time on your hands after work, projects happened and yes there was a lot of work to do outside but it was Chicago. He needed something to get him through the winter before his fingers froze trying to deice the yard or put down some new decking boards.

Red☠Frost

[Kelle Lindsay, EMTP]

“He wanted to save the guy he shot. Did he tell you why he shot him to start with?”

"Because the guy was resisting," her words came slowly as she realized how absurd she sounded, "being kidnapped." She had to wonder, though, if most of the reason she was still alive was because she had cooperated, although she wasn't going to say that aloud.

"Anyway," she sighed, "I have you to talk to, or Chief..." Better than shrinks any day!

“Yes you do, no matter what it is okay.”

"Thanks." Her smile was weary but genuine, and she was glad that she'd found a good friend, so long as he didn't turn out to be more of a stalker-type! "Good to know I have a fellow nut with equally bad judgement to talk to."

“Ouch thanks for that, I take it back you’re totally nuts then.”

"So, diagnosed, so cured! Now to remember the details!" Mostly because her brain was getting pretty fuzzy from fatigue. What she really needed was a good shot of whisky!

“You’ve a point, no clue what day it is now.” He said as he glanced at his watch before nodding to Kelle. “Sure I’ll drive you home, pizza for breakfast is the best kind of breakfast. Portable, easy and already amazing.”

"Easy's th' best part," she muttered with a grin, "no cooking and all ya have to do is throw away a paper towel!"

“So want me to stay or you can stay at mine if you like? Plenty of room there.”

"Stay?" Well, all right, she'd kind of been pushing for that, at least just tonight, until it was light, and she relented with a nod. "I gotta feed th' dogs, make sure they have food and water, and the cats..."

Looking at him, she shrugged. It was generous for him to offer to stay with her, so she hated to impose more by dragging him away from home, but she'd feel better in her own bed.

"You decide, what's easier. Won't take long to run by and grab a couple things." She grinned, happy to let him make the decisions for the moment, but he'd better hurry before she fell asleep in her pizza!

Steven Hudson,