Co-operation

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"No. Absolutely not!" Ruby Lockhart's grey eyes were narrowed in defiance, despite the fact she was stood in her commander's office right then. "Bringing them in will only bring more questions and red tape!" She insisted, her slender fists balled up by her sides.
"This isn't a discussion, Lockhart. I have my orders, and now you have yours." The grey haired man told her, though he sounded somewhat weary, like he was all too accustomed to these childish outbursts. "You are to meet your new partner at 8pm and brief them on the case. The sooner we clear this whole mess up, the sooner I can go back to letting you do things your way, alright? Believe me, I don't want these blind fools involved anymore than you do, but this last case has made local news. We need to stop it before it goes national, or global."
Ruby's lips pursed together as she continued to scowl, seeming to be considering all this new information. There was a reason she didn't have a partner; no one could put up with her hotheaded, shoot first ask questions later attitude. It created mountains of paper work, but unfortunately she came from a long line of the divisions pure bred hunters, and her skills were... invaluable. 
"Fine!" She huffed at last. "But if this yokel ends up dead because they couldn't do what I said or panics when faced with the truth, I won't be held to blame!" Having said that, she stormed from the office, waves of dark hair swinging behind her before the door slammed shut.

Ruby shook her head and pushed the bottle back at her friend. “Give it all to Jett, I’ll be fine.” She assured her. Like Tobias, she too hadn’t properly rested lately. What they had done the night before didn’t exactly qualify as rest.

Piper nodded, jumping to her feet and headed into the other room. 
Tobias sighed again and rested his head on Ruby's shoulder. This was a move that surprised him. He closed his eyes, trying to play off. "She'll use one of those to go and be with your brother. I'm not sure that's wise, my...dear." he'd almost said it...what was wrong with him?

Ruby lifted the hand opposite the shoulder where Tobias had laid his head, and gently ran her fingers through his dark hair. “I wish she didn’t love him...” she breathed. The young woman was finding an odd comfort in the familiar way her partner simply buried his face in her shoulder. Until tonight, she too had been denying that it was perhaps something more than simple lust she felt for him.

"It's not like it's the first time." Tobi laughed, knowing she wouldn't understand him. "I need to apologise for the way I was acting earlier tonight. You didn't deserve the way I was treating you." He whispered. 

Piper appeared in Jett's hospital room, glad that they were alone. Gently she put the potion to his lips and tilted his head back. "This will take the pain away better than human medicine." She said softly. When she was done with that she did what the nurses wouldn't and cleaned him up, settling him into a much more comfortable position. 
She'd taken care of him since they were small. She'd crawled into his window to care for him when he was sick even when they were in kindergarten.

Ruby was silent for some moments, though her fingers continued to slide through Tobias’ hair. “You’ve never apologised before.” She finally commented, a slight grin quirking the corners of her lips. 

“They’ll lock you up if they find you.” Kett commented once the medicine had filled the pain further. “Not to mention my birch face sister will kick you ass.” He added, though his sapphire eyes were smiling at Piper.

"Don't get used to it." Tobias said. He manuvered himself so that he was laying beside her and he pulled her close. "We both need rest. Let's get it while we can." He whispered, pressing a kiss into her hair and whispering an enchantation that would have them both drifting off to sleep. 

"Ruby is resting and your boss is snoring in the hallway." Piper said with a soft laugh. "Sounds alot like when we were kids, doesn't it. Except the boss was that mean adopted mother... Sheri. Remember?"

Ruby was well aware of what Tobias had just done, and managed to breathe what sounded like ‘asshole’ before she drifted off against his chest.

“Ugh... don’t even remind me about her.” Jett snorted. “She was always getting in the way of me putting my moves on you.” He added with a grin that Piper would often have seen Ruby wear.

As always Ruby would wake up alone. Piper was in the kitchen, working on another batch of potions and getting things ready to open the bar. When Jett had proclaimed to put he'd wanted to "put the moves" on her she'd left him, muttering something about needing to get home. She left him at the mercy of his Captain but at least he was clean.

Both twins were in rather foul moods that morning. Jett hadn’t understood what he had done wrong, in his head he had simply told Piper that he’d wanted her even before he understood what that feeling was.
Ruby... well she was mad that Tobias had used magic to put her to sleep, then let her wake up alone.
“Figured you’d be with hero boy.” Ruby remarked sullenly as she joined her friend in the kitchen, checking if there was any fresh coffee.

"You healed remarkably faster than human medicine should have been able to accomplish." Aren said as he entered the room. He held out a bag for Jett filled with his clothes. "The nurses already let you shower?" 

"He and I aren't together, you know that." Piper said softly, motioning to the coffee pot.

“They couldn’t resist giving me a sponge bath.” Jett replied with a sneer as he snatched hold of the bag.

“Only because you’re both as dense as pea soup.” Ruby remarked as she poured herself some coffee, adding more sugar than was normal. “He’s put his foot in it again, hasn’t he?”

"And it had nothing to do with that gypsy slipping into your room? You forget I was monitoring you." The captain snorted. "Piper is such a free spirit isn't she? She will never he like the rest of us, disciplined, a fighter. That's why you keep sending her away. She's not like you and your sister. She doesn't understand."

Piper laughed softly. "Doesn't he always? You actually look rested. You snored. Did you know that?" She asked with a laugh.

“And I never want her to.” Jett growled. “It’s bad enough she got dragged into this sick world at all. Ruby and I had no choice... but Piper, you ruined her life.”

“I think you’ll find that was Tobi, he always snores when we’re in the same bed.” Ruby replied without really thinking as she added milk to her coffee.

"Here, boy. She sent tea for you to drink." The elf muttered. "That's one thing none of us mess with...a gypsy and her tea." He chuckled. "Her grandmother was just as bad. To tell the truth...I miss Giselle and her brews. She was...an interesting woman."

Piper grinned mischievously, unable to help herself. "So...he was here." She purred. "That's what I thought. "You just can't live without him, can you?"

“You’re afraid of the gypsies.” Jett commented, again without any kind of respect. “That’s why you tried so hard to get rid of them, until you realised you needed them, and were down to the last of the gypsy bloodlines.”

Ruby glanced up from what she was doing, quickly realising how loose lipped she had been. “What!? No, that’s not how it is at all! You know better than anyone that Tobias and I can’t stand each other!”

"you know nothing, boy. Now get dressed. You are well enough to go home to your disgusting group of followers." 

"Uh-huh." Piper put a few drops of healing potion into her friend's coffee. "I may be a bubble head but I'm not blind!" She laughed.

“What’s the matter, jealous I have someone, knife ear?” Jett spat as he got to his feet. “All your money and power can’t hide what a fucking bitter and ugly heart you have, asshole.”

“Not blind, but clearly delusional!” Ruby continued to insist. “You’re seeing something that isn’t there!” She assured the other woman. “It’s just sex, that’s all.” She added, most likely digging the hole she was in ever deeper.

Aren shook his head. "At least my entourage doesn't take advantage of..." The elf's thin lips twisted into a dark smile. "Well...I'll let you figure that one out. Maybe after he breaks your precious gypsy girl. I have often wondered what she tastes like. One can hardly blame the demon for wanting such a precious prize. How could you ever turn it down?" He purred.

Piper nodded, pretending to understand. "just sex. There's nothing to the way you feel about your partner at all." She clucked her tongue.

Jett didn’t like what Aren was insinuating. He knew his friends had more sense than to ever try it on with Piper. Unfortunately, he had never thought he needed to warn them off his sister too. “I wasn’t going to take what Piper wasn’t ready to give.”

“Glad we’re on the same page.” Ruby replied with a firm nod. “Now, speaking of partners... I need to go to Red’s hotel and find out if his brain imploded from everything he saw last night.”

"Yet the demons who want her power to cross over will not mind a bit. We are the good guys only to a certain extent." Aren reminded the scorcerer.

Piper nodded. "I'll be safe here. Gran's ghost was milling around here earlier. I feel perfectly safe with her around."

Jett grabbed hold of his belongings, and disappeared in a swirl of blue smoke. If he had lingered any longer, he would have gotten them all in trouble. Let Aren explain to the humans where their patient had gone.

“That’s not healthy, you know.” Ruby warned as she put her cup in the dishwasher and headed back to the bedroom. “Ghosts aren’t a substitute for flesh!” She called over her shoulder.

Piper sat across the table from her ghostly Gran, concentrating on the formula the ghost told her. She'd never made the particular recipe right and doubted she was going to start now. She was beating herself up over what she couldn't do, angry that she couldn't be the type of gypsy her grandmother had been.

Red was battling a massive headache. He didn't know that this happened to everyone who learned about magick.

Jett hadn’t gone home like he had planned, he was currently pacing up and down outside Piperks front door, debating what he was going to say to her.

It probably didn’t help that Ruby was now pounding on his door, yelling to let her know if he was still alive.

"You're making a fool of yourself on my porch, boy." The ghost of Gran was a sickly green color. It was the same color she'd been when she'd passed on. "Why don't you just knock? She's alone...that can't be safe...." 

"Shhh." Red jerked open the door and yanked Ruby inside the dark room. "I swear I haven't touched a drop..." He whispered in her ear. "I have a headache to end all headaches. I didn't do anything fun for it. That sucks."

“Because last night I did something stupid that made her run off...only...” he sighed heavily and ran his fingers through his dark hair. “I don’t know what I did.”

Ruby was not impressed at being dragged inside and manhandled by some norm, and made this known as she slapped Red’s hands away from her. “Don’t be getting any idea about starting now.” She snorted, though was quite aware of what was wrong with him. “Tell me again how this is a tiny one horse town...” she asked Red with a playful smirk.

Gran smiled, the dark liquid that forever remained on her lips moving ever so slightly. "I can't help you there. She's not talking to me either. She knows how I feel about you. Your kind has been the death of mine for ages. All you will ever do is hurt the girl."

"What the hell is going on around here?" Red demanded, rubbing his forehead. "Six new buildings appeared in my way here. How does that happen?!"

“But lemme guess... Ruby is welcome?” Jett sneered. “You’re judging me for something I haven’t even done!” He insisted, most likely looking crazy to anyone who was watching. “It’s not like a I had a choice about what I am.”

Ruby grinned and sat down on the edge of Red’s. ed as she watched him struggle. “Oh sweetie, they didn’t just appear.” She mused. “Like I told you, just because you can’t see something, doesn’t mean it isn’t there.”

"I'd rather neither of you went near her." Gran said, her ghostly color turning a darker shade. "You and your sister are cursed. You have taken down the majority of my family with you. Piper is an innocent soul. A rare purity that your kind would never understand. Do not ruin her. Are we clear?" 

"You keep saying that." Red sighed. "So...the elf that was talking about taking your friend. He is your captain. But I thought your captain called me in to keep her safe?"

“You would have her live her live on solitude, here with you, you old hag?” Jett sneered.

“He’s not so much the captain... as...” Ruby seemed to be searching for the right word. “What you need to understand, is that elves don’t consider us equals, especially not norms, non magic users, like you. We’re their fodder in the war. Nothing else.”

"At least she will be alive and her life demon free." Gran hissed. "Get off my porch..." 
"Jett..." Piper opened the door and Gran disappeared. "I'm so glad to see you're ok. Come in. Did you need more healing potions?"

Red continued to rub at his forehead. "I just can't believe there's elves. What else is there?"