End of Watch

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"I knew she would...one way or another... which is why I told you to wait at the hotel. I planned to handle things differently." Talon told her. 

Molly heard the voice and her stomach twisted. A part of her blamed the other woman for what happened to her baby. How could she not? She kept walking. Pretending not to hear Ivy.

"I think you're trying to fool yourself. Because you didn't fool us." She said, hoping she was stalling for time. Darbok had to show up sooner or later didn't he?

"He needs to stay calm right now. That's not possible." The nurse snapped. "Go sit down and relax."

“I have him a little something that would give us all the time we need.” Ivy remarked when she saw Molly glance to the door. “You think I want some troll faced nobody?” She added. “No man could ever compare to the dark lord, surely even you see that?”

“Don’t tell me to relax!” Viola shouted, a nearby trash can suddenly catching fire. The young elf knew she was somehow to blame, but still... she hoped anyone else would see it as an accident. “It’s not like I’m wanting him to run a marathon with me, I just want to see him!”

Molly rolled her eyes at this though her stomach churned with worry. She needed to alert someone. What if something happened to Darbok? "Oh yes. A homicidal mainiac is so irresistible." She snorted.

The nurse now ignored her completely as she ran to find out what happened to the trash can, leaving the patient book open for Viola to glance over as she pleased.

“He has a darkness in him that is simply delicious...” Ivy purred, as she chewed on her thumbnail and giggled. “Just wait until he takes you... then you’ll know.”

Viola barely even hesitated. She found Talon’s name, and was soon sprinting away from the nurses station and slipping into his room. It was dark, the only light coming from the machines he was connected to. The small elf sat next to his bed and gently took hold of her husband’s hand. She was so helpless without him, or so she had convinced herself.

Molly gave ivy a horrified look and shook her head. "Where are you from, crazy town?" She snorted. "You're nuts."

Talon jerked hard at her touch, taking in a gasping breath. "Viola!" He shouted, though he didn't open his eyes.

“That’s relative, sweetie. I mean... you’ve got a thing for orcs, how messed up is that?” Ivy replied with a snort.

“No... no, no...” Viola was panicking, worried she had hurt Talon in some way. “Tal... please, don’t struggle.” She breathed, leaning over him to gently push her fingers through his dark hair. “Just relax, you still have to give me that tattoo, remember?” She added with a smile, not even sure he could hear her.

Molly closed her eyes, feeling that her world was falling apart. It hurt, all of it. She prayed for a different ending, having no idea one was on it's way.

Talon groaned as if he were fighting something and shifted in the bed. He could hear her, he just couldn't say so.

Darbok was down in the basement car park of the hospital. He was crouched behind a car that wasn’t his with a frown on his face. One of his men had told him he was going to meet him right here with some cleancothes for Molly, and things he thought ‘their human queen needed’. He was an hour over due, and there was blood here, like someone had been throwing punches. That was never a good sign. Finally he sighed and dusted off his hands as he got back to his feet. It was simply going to have to be something he looked into once molly was out of harms way. The orc leaderwas back in the elevator to return to check up on the lover he couldn’t let the world know was his. That’s what pained him the most... he couldn’t let the world know, because it would only put Molly in danger. 

“Yeah, you hard me.” Viola breathed, continuing to run her fingers through his hair. “I know you are going to laugh... but I decided what I want you to tattoo on me. Servo me, servabo the. It means... Save me, and I’ll save you.”

Regina Mallory sighed hard as she got out of her squad car and stepped up to the door of the Fogteeth home base. Not many people knew this location and for good reason. Darbok was secrative and hard. Not that that had always been the case. Six months ago something had happened and he had totally changed. He wasn't telling and she wasn't asking. It wasn't her job. 
Her job was to keep him and his men in check. Happy police happy city her chief said, though she was never sure that was the case. However, orcs were her specialty and had been for years. She liked them. For the most part they treated her better than humans. 
Sighing deeper she knocked again getting the feeling she was being kept waiting on purpose.

Six months had been a great time of healing for Talon. Life was good. Though he'd had to help his friend bury the woman he'd fallen for, everything else was going great. 
He and Viola had begun to build their life and for a little while they were able to forget about the darkness that was lurking just around the corner.

“Boss says no visitors.” A nameless orc growled through the door. “You got business, make an appointment!” 
Darbok had become pretty much a recluse since losing Molly. Existence hadn’t exactly been easy before, but once she was gone... everything was just... wrong. He let his gang go unchecked, which had ultimately lead to police involvement. 

“Wake up!” Viola came bounding into the bedroom with all the energy she had seemed to gain in spades since they had started their life out here on the little farm. The small elf was now bouncing up and down on the bed beside her husband, a giant smile on her face. It was clear from the fact she was wearing last nights clothes that she hadn’t actually been to bed yet.

"I don't have to make an appointment. Open the door or I'll kick it in." Regina said firmly. "Do you need to see my badge? This isn't a new thing. Seriously." The little red head crossed her arms over her chest. "Open the door. Now."

"Little bit! I'm sleeping!" Talon groaned, tossing covers over his head. "Go away!"

“You know, I would love to see you try, midget.” The orc sneered. Apparently they were all somewhat wary of letting another’s human woman close to their boss now. Police office or not.

Viola pouted and lay on top of Talon on top of the cover he had just pulled over him. “Well you’re just a great big grump.” She informed him, though the words were merely a distraction from the fact her ice cold, and very bare, feet had just found an opening and were invading the warmth that Talon was hogging.

Again Regina sighed. "Do we really have to do this? I just need to ask him a few questions. This doesn't need to turn into a shit show. I can ask nicely one more time." She said firmly.

"I was horny but now I'm freezing!" Talon whined loudly. "When did you get to be so mean!" He finally moved, wrapping her up in the blanket like a burrito and stomping toward the bathroom.

There was silence, and then what sounded like hushed whispers before the door unbolted and finally opened. “You can talk to him, but you won’t be getting any answers, pink skin.”

Viola rolled off the bed, somehow getting to her feet and stumbling around like some sort of drunken toddler before her disheveled amethyst head poked out the top of the blanket. “Well that’s a shame... guess I’ll just have to have my fun by myself, huh?” She asked with a smirk.

"Pink skin. That's a new one." Regina snorted, holstering her gun again. "Seriously, you guys need to come up with new material. And you let me worry about the boss." 

"You're going to have to. It's shriveled and sad and frozen." Talon whined from the other side of the door. "You're so mean lately! You should check and see if you're pregnant!" He teased. "I'm going to take a hot shower!"

Darbok was sat in darkness, like he always was. His days just didn’t seem worth anything since Molly was cruelly stolen from him. Even Talon little bit had stopped checking up on him. He didn’t entertain the thought that there would be any hassle from the police now he didn’t keep his boys in check.

“You better hope not, we can’t be coping with four babies!” Viola called back through the door.

Regina flipped on the light as she entered the room where Darbok sat. "We need to talk." She said, pulling a stack of folded papers from her vest pocket. 

"Four?" Talon opened the door, his eyebrows raised. "Who had babies? You're kidding!"

Darbok blinked against the sudden and harsh light, though that seemed to be his only reaction for a moment. “I got nothing to say to you, Reggie.” He sneered, proving that he had remembered all encounters she had had with his gang in the past.

Viola simply shrugged, finally escaping the blanket and seeming very much like she wasn’t going to tell her husband anything at all. “I dunno... I thought you were too cold and shrivelled to care about anything but a hot shower?” She replied, taking a great interest in her nails now.

"It's officer Mallory. Regina Mallory. And yes you do. We had an agreement. You said you were going to keep your guys under control. I have here sixteen documents for probation violations that say you haven't been keeping your guys under control. What are we going to do about this?"

Talon shut the door again with a snort. "It's probably that stupid cat of yours. I'm going to take a shower. I hate that cat."

“Have a drink?” Darbok snorted, doing just that as he poured himself what seemed to be just another of many glasses of scotch. 

Viola was scowling at the door, her exuberant mood almost ruined. Well Talon would just have to find out the hard way that she had used all the hot water through the night as the old goat she had convinced him to let her buy had given birth to three tiny kids. They hadn’t known Sally was pregnant when they bought her, and she hadn’t filled her husband in on the details once she figured it out.

"No. And you don't need one either. this place smells like a brewery." Regina took the glass from him and for an odd moment they both watched the scotch pour onto the table. "Darbok, I came to warn you about the impending arrest of your guys. This is sixteen at once. The worst it's ever been. What's going on?" She said finally, setting down the empty glass. 

Talons girlish screams could be heard from outside. It was bad enough to have the cat he claimed to hate pacing back and forth by the back door.

“Don’t come in here, acting like you give a shit.” Darbok growled when Regina took the glass. “You think you’re the first cop to try this? Bet we all look the same to you people anyway, fuck knows all you humans look just the same as elves to me.”

Viola had returned outdoors and was grinning when she heard the screams, sitting next to Sally in the barn. “Well, I tried to play nice, but sometimes he is just insufferable!” She told the nursing goat, very matter of factly. “Bet my cold feet aren’t so disgusting to him now, huh?” She added with a smirk.

"Hey! That's enough out of you. I didn't do anything for you to insult me. I'm taking time out of my day to come and help you and your guys. There's a warrant out for half of them and I put a forty eight hour hold on it to help you. Get off your high horse here!" Regina snapped.

Talon came out to the barn no more than five minutes later, his hair still dripping. "Ok. Where are the babies? I give up." He grumbled.

“Or what? You’ll shoot me?” Darbok asked with an amused snort. “Whatever you’re threatening, little girl, doesn’t bother me. What do I have to lose?” He asked, drinking direct from the bottle now.

Viola looked up at him from where she was sat amongst the hay, and for a moment she simply stared. So much had happened, and he still took her breath away by simply looking the way he did. The small elf leapt at her husband, limbs curling around him like a spider monkey. “I thought you wanted babies?” She breathed, ginning as she rested her forehead against his.

Regina stepped forward, not bothered by the sound of cocking guns. She took the bottle from the enormous orc, spraying them both with the liquid. She hated the smell. "Maybe it's time you and I went for a walk, big guy. I think you need some air."

"I want what you want, little bit." Talon breathed, pulling her close to him. "Except to stay up all night. I want none of that."

“Unless were all dead... there’s air in here.” Darbok replied, seeming every inch a petulant child.

“Then I guess it’s a no to our own baby, huh?” Viola teased, even when it was wet she couldn’t resist running her fingers through his dark hair.

"The air is better outside. When is the last time you showered?" Regina asked him, scowling. "Darbok, come on. Let's go." She held out her hand. "Please."

"I'll do whatever you want, Viola." Talon said softly. "I don't want to make you worry about things."

Darbok grumbled something about him smelling like himself, and not some store bought whore, though he did seem to agree to follow Regina outside.

“But I do worry.” Viola breathed, her slender hands holding either side of Talon’s face now as she looked into his eyes. “I worry you’re not happy, that you only do things to make me happy.” She added with a sad look.

"You aren't yourself lately." Regina noted, as they stepped into the outside air. She watched him wince at the sunlight and frowned. She knew how much he loved being outside among his crew and this behavior was not like him. "You haven't called to harass me once in the last couple of months. I hate to say it but I actually miss it, big guy. Not to mention I had a member of your crew threaten me last night. That's not something you'd let fly. So I'm assuming you don't know about Terbo."

Talon gave his wife a strange look. "Where do you get these ideas? From what happened with Lillian? See...I'm actually scared of you. I know youd kick my ass. You would notice if I was just playing at things. And besides, I'm happy. I wouldn't do this if I wasn't. I learned things the hard way the first time. And I actually love you." He breathed, pressing his lips to hers.

“So you’re here because you can’t handle one little orc?” Darbok asked, still squinting against the bright sunlight. “I don’t know what you want from me. I’m not their mother, I can’t watch them every damn second. I can’t keep people from dying!” With each word his voice had seemed to grow in volume, until he was practically shaking.

It never ceased to send a delicious thrill through Viola when Talon told her he loved her. Even now, the little elf didn’t think she deserved someone like him. “I might not be kicking it, but your ass belongs to me anyway.” She breathed against his lips, barely able to contain a sudden grin of her own.