JIMIN POV
I was fuming as Jih held my arms and forced me to stand
still and watch Jiwoo just walk
on out of the station as if he'd done nothing wrong.
I couldn't believe he'd
strolled in there at all.
Waltzed on in as if he owned
the place, demanded his
brother fucking got his
brother, something I wanted
to take up with the sheriff
and then disappeared right
on out again without a care
in the world but with one
last glance for my Jungkook.
Shit, is Jungkook okay?
I turned to look at him and
what I saw made my heart
stop a moment.
He sat in the chair next to
my desk and he looked as
if nothing had happened.
He was too still, staring
forward, blinking occasionally.
Not ruffled.
Not scared.
Not anything.
It was utterly terrifying.
Jih loosened his grip when he noticed my attention shift to Jungkook and he let me go.
I wanted to wrap Jungkook in
my arms but I didn't know how.
I didn't know if I could touch
him at all.
He looked like he was holding himself numb somewhere else, somewhere that wasn't
mentally here.
If he was happy there, happier than he'd been in weeks with
me here, then I didn't want
to force him to come back.
I wanted him to get to stay
as long as he wanted.
I looked at Bryce, the FBI agent who had agreed to 'babysitting' duty, hoping he had some
idea of what was going on.
Since the call, he mouthed at me, sending a concerned
glance in Jungkook's direction.
This was bad.
This what was needed my
focus.
It reminded me of the lead-up
to Jungkook's shower break down, which still chilled me
to think about.
I sent a look at Jih, silently letting him know I was about
to take off.
He nodded, understanding
and agreeing where my
priorities should lie.
He'd told me earlier that day
that I had to do everything in
my power to hold on to Jungkook, to make sure this mess didn't come between us.
I was worried it was already
too late but I wasn't going to give up trying.
I was a detective after all.
We never won unless we
never gave up.
I stopped worrying about whether or not Jungkook
was going to fall apart and I wrapped him in my arms.
Something inside of him
seemed to melt then, at least that's what it felt like to me, because suddenly he was loose against me, clinging to me
and my chest was wet as he began to cry against my shirt.
Not wanting to become another show for the curious deputies in the department, I pulled us into the nearby conference room.
I'd seen a lot of people cry in
this room but everything in
me ached to get him to stop.
"Shh love, I'd got you." I whispered over and over
into his ear.
"I've got you."
"I know." He breathed
back into my neck.
"I just couldn't feel that
for a while."
I wondered what he meant
but didn't want to pull away
to ask, so I just kept holding him.
As long as we were together
and talking to each other, I
knew we'd be okay eventually.
I held him like that for a
long time.
It felt like coming home and
like we were communicating more in that cold conference room and that shared silence between us than we had in weeks.
Jungkook showed me his
fear, his anger, all of it and
in return I got to shed a few tears myself, and hold him through it.
It was exactly what we
both needed.
I know he felt it too because
at some point his tears dried
and his breathing eased and
yet, he didn't pull back and
he didn't start talking again.
He just crowded closer to
me and held on tighter.
We clung together for a
very long time.
Then he seemed to
remember something.
"Gracias por tener mis
cinco." he whispered.
Now he pulled back but I
could tell it was because
he'd thought of something,
not because he wanted
away from me.
He met my eyes and for the
first time in weeks, I felt like
we were actually seeing each other, not through some sort
of misery veil where we'd been stuck over the past while.
"Gracias por tener mis
cinco." he said again, louder
this time, as if he was trying
to tell me something.
"Babe, I'm sorry but I don't speak Spanish." I said,
wanting to know what he was saying but completely clueless
as to what was going on.
"I took French in high school."
He seemed to find that funny, because he burst into
hysterical laughter, falling against me as he shook.
I knew it was another reaction
to the shock, to the fear, the laughter and yet it also
seemed to be genuine humor.
"What's so hilarious?" I asked.
"You." He managed between guffaws.
"You've been going after this man for months and you
never learned Spanish?"
My face got hot at that and
his eyebrows raised as he
stared at my cheeks.
Damn it, I'd tried but I didn't have the ear for languages.
They just slipped on by and
no matter how hard I tried,
they never stuck.
Jungkook realized I was genuinely embarrassed and
took my hand in his.
"Don't worry, Alpha." he
started.
"I'll know Spanish enough
for us both."
Then he leaned forward and explained to me what he'd
heard.
"When Jiwoo's brother walked out and they said hello to
each other, the brother
said something weird."
"I didn't notice it at the time because I was caught up in
how I recognized his voice
but when Jiwoo asked him
if everything was okay."
"He answered with: Si,
gracias por tener mis cinco."
"It means 'thank you for
having my five'."
"But that's not right, is it?"
At this he looked at me, with wide eyes as if afraid he'd misremembered Mob Boss
101 and I couldn't help
but chuckle.
"No, it's not right, usually
you'd say 'had my six'."
"Exactly!" He snapped his fingers in my face but I was so transfixed by the stunning look
of triumph on his face to
realize what he was saying.
"Oh my god." Jih's voice interrupted from behind us.
I turned to look at him
standing in the doorway.
I knew he'd probably been
there all along, making sure
we were good.
"Jimin." Jih continued, looking nearly as excited as Jungkook now.
"This could be it, this could
be something important."
"What are you both talking about?" I asked.
Clearly I'd missed something.
"Thank you for having my
five." Jih explained, waiting
for me to get on board.
"It was code."
"Shit." I said finally with them.
We quickly gathered around
the conference table and
Jungkook wrote down every
word he could remember being exchanged between the brothers.
"Sloppy." Jih commented as Jungkook wrote.
"for them to trade information
in the middle of the station."
I agreed... but....
"They didn't know any of
us could speak Spanish."
"Truth be told, it was a good gamble, since none of us can except Sheriff Jones."
"It was only because
Jungkook was here that
we even caught it."
"Point taken." Jih agreed.
Jungkook looked up at
both of us.
"Don't you think, in a country where some people speaks Spanish and Korean, that
that would be a good
language for cops to know?"
Jih and I exchanged looks.
Jungkook was right.
We knew it.
"Anyway." Jungkook said.
"Here you are, everything
they said."
He slid the paper across the
table so we could see better.
Todos bien? Si, gracias por
tener mis cinco.
Underneath Jungkook had written the translation.
All good? Yes, thank you
for having my five.