Paper in a File {Brollins}

Swallowing the group's comments and shoving them aside, Colby had hastily left the precinct and began driving to the safe house he and Rebecca were soon to depart from.

The car ride was mostly silent, which was expected but didn't help Colby's knowing thoughts. Every time he caught a glimpse of Rebecca in his peripheral vision, it seemed like she was trying to move further and further away from him, keeping her eyes looking out the side window, her arms crossed, and her face stoic.

He couldn't blame her for being disappointed. He had promised Rebecca he was going to protect her and Chase and lock Riki up. With Riki still out on the streets, and the duo about to be left alone, he hadn't checked off either box. The best he had done was waste her time and give her false hope.

When he rolled up to a stop sign, he turned to see Rebecca gripping her kneecaps to the point of white knuckles while her eyes darted around everywhere. He could see her chest heaving up and down, making the air even tenser.

"Hey? Are you okay?" He spoke quietly, knowing Chase was calm in the back, and when his sudden speaking didn't even phase her, he got worried. Colby put the car in park and turned his body towards her as much as he could, given the circumstances. "Talk to me."

He placed a hand on hers and felt her ice-cold and clammy skin. Colby's eyes wanted to widen, but he forced himself not to let it happen. "It's okay, really. We can still do check-ins and talk. You can even come by the precinct every day. Nobody said you couldn't. I won't let anyone stop you."

He saw her start to shake her head and could actually begin to hear her ragged breaths before she shuddered as she spoke. "I'm just... I'm, ha- having a thing again."

"Okay... okay." Colby nodded, feeling her hands gravitate to his and grasp onto them with everything she had in her. "I'm here for you. I'm here."

After it seemed as though she gained some ground, Rebecca's stiff shoulders slacked back against the seat slightly, and her grip on his hands loosened when she spoke up. "Jon says it's PTSD."

"He would know." Colby nodded, remembering Jonathan's past before joining the precinct.

"I..." Rebecca started to speak but couldn't find the words before a loud and obnoxious honk from behind them filled the silence.

Colby's eyes darted to the mirror and saw a guy in a truck behind them yelling and pointing while flailing his arms around dramatically. Normally, he would wave a hand in apologies or drive on ahead, but he wasn't having a good day as it was. Rebecca was in a very vulnerable place, and a different type of anger filled him within.

"Prick." He muttered, trying not to rattle Rebecca even further, until more blaring noise from behind them. "You know what..."

Rebecca saw him unbuckle his seatbelt and open the door to leave, getting out of the car. "Colby, no."

From the side mirror, she could see Colby walking and talking animatedly while a tall and fairly large man exited his truck and started doing the same. She steadied her fingers long enough to open the door and leave the car to see the ordeal ensue.

"You could've just fucking driven around us, asshole!" He yelled while walking toward the stranger.

The man laughed, "So you could sit there and lallygag with your whore and piss off the next person that comes by?"

"You know what?" An angry smirk hit his lips, and he moved up to the much larger man, shoving him backwards.

The next thing she knew, Colby took a punch to the jaw and involuntarily, Rebecca found herself immediately trying to pull Colby back. To no avail with pulling, Rebecca moved between the males and tried pushing Colby back to the truck.

In doing so, she accidentally ended up in the way of one of the truckers' blows, catching his fist against her cheek. She stumbled back a few feet, and the guy finally seemed to look concerned and stopped his assault.

It took Colby a second to connect the dots since he didn't get a good look at what had happened, but once he did, his intensity rose to new heights.

"Colby, please." He was relentless until he heard Rebecca's pleas. "I just wanna go."

Colby allowed himself to get a couple more good beats in before he felt his anger subsiding. He stood up straight and brushed himself off before following Rebecca into the car and promptly driving off.

He didn't know if it was just him, but if he thought it felt uneasy in the car before, he clearly had never experienced anything like what he was feeling at moment.

It only then clued in that he hadn't checked on Rebecca properly, and it made him panic slightly. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." She spoke up after a while, and Colby almost thought she was crying when she made a noise until he realized she was laughing quietly.

"Are you laughing?" He sat astonished, "You just got decked in the face, and you're laughing?"

"That wasn't my first rodeo detective." She grinned, leaning back and letting out a breath and sobering up. "So this is really it, huh? Not a bad way to end a journey, I guess."

"Nah." Colby shook his head, looking straight ahead yet still able to imagine the confusion on Rebecca's face.

"What do you mean?" She questioned, "I thought you said Vince shut the case down."

"Fuck that." Colby pulled into the driveway of the safe house and grinned at Rebecca. "We're not done till I say we're done."