Coming Home to Aurelius 9

"Step out of the car ladies."

The officer's stern command, accompanies by his flashing his torch into their faces didn't scare Alex, she actually felt a sliver of irritation that the man had interuppted their pleasant conversation.

"What seems to be the problem, Officer?" asked Anna politely even as she put a restraining hand on Alex's arm.

"Do your parents know that their daughters are out of the house sitting in the middle of nowhere?" drawled the officer.

Both Alex and Anna blushed, their parents didn't know, but hell, they weren't kids!

"How is that relevant?" questioned Alexis.

"Because young lady, I'm going to take you back and hand you over to your parents. WHat in the world were you thinking of, sitting here in the middle of the night?" shouted the officer gathering steam.

"Officer, we appreciate your concern, but there truly is no need to inform our parents. It's not like we're minors or something." reasoned Anna.

The officer snorted," That'ss likely. I'd like to see your id or driving liscence ladies."

Calmly, the two of them handed over the required documents for the man's scrutiny.

Swearing, he said, " Both of you will sit in the car and come back with me to the Sheriff's office right now!"

Startled Alexis exclaimed, " And why should we do that? It's not like we've done anything wrong."

"Young lady you willdo exactly as I tell you. Can you imagine how worried your families must be? And here you are flashing fake ids at me."

Laughing Anna said, " Officer, truly this is getting crazier by the minute, Alex is 22, I am 23. You can't drag us back to the station for being parked on a lonely road late at night!"

Snorting eith disbelief, the man was working himself up into a rage when Alex spoke, " All right. Lets do one thing, let us make a phonecall. We'll call people who'll vouch for us. Because honestly, I think you're making a mistake officer."

Muttering something impolite under his breath, the officer watched as Alex called home.

it was only when the phone started ringing, that she realised that she'd catch hell from Bertha.

"Bertha! Thank God you picked up the phone. Listen (she overrode Bertha's surprised splutters), Anna and I are on the state highway. Some police chappie (the term made the officer wince) thinks we're minors and is going to haul us off to jail. Could you or Joe please vouch for us?"

With that Alex abruptly thrust th phone at the officer.

She and Anne trembled with nervousness as the officer grunted into the phone several times.

when he finally flipped the phone shut and handed it over to Alexis, he snarled, "You think getting a friend to vouch for you is going to fool me, you can think again Missy!"

Alexis gasped furiously at being refered to as a kid.

"Get into the car so I can take you to the Sheriff's office. Do it or I'll handcuff both of you!"

the unmistakeable threat in his voice made Alex uneasy as she looked at her friend for support.

Anna shook her head in a bewildered way and took a shaky step towards the car.

Alex glared at the officer but it quickly turned into a grin as she saw the genuinely distressed look on his young face. She sniggered as she thought of him worrying about two runaway teenagers. She merely shook her head as Anna gave her a quizzical look.

As he started up the car and jetted for the town, the good man started speaking, "How old are you both, 17? Haven't we held enough safety seminars for you to know that it's unsafe to be outside at night alone? Do you know what could have happened? What if I hadn't been an officer? I know it's a small town, and for most part the people are great, but we have our share of crimes too kids. You need to be responsible. If you had been my children I'd have locked you into your rooms every night."

Laughing helplessly, Anna collapsed against an already laughing Alexis as they caught the officer glaring at them in the mirror.
"Wait till I meet your parents. I'm going to have some words with them about your behaviour."
Still frowning he continued his monologue under his breath about insolent teenagers and careless parents.
Coming to a stop outside the newly renovated, glass and concrete building, the girls stumbled out of the car still grinning.
Scowling deeply he led them into the office, the group stopped short as Sheriff Mason came into view, looking spectacularly disgruntled, his eyes gritty and red.
The look of suprise made his eyes pop out as he took in the site of Alex and Anna in his office.
"Why in the devil's name are you both doing here in the middle of the night? Vaugh mentioned two kids." he blustered, suprise making him forget about his vocabulary.
Enjoying herself thoroughly, Alex gave him a sunny smile and said, "We're the kids Mr.Sheriff Sir. We even carried fake ids!"
The sheriff glared at Alex knowing full well that she was joking, but before he could say a word, a deep, angry voice cut through, "And I assume you enjoyed giving everyone hell after you went missing?"
Alex spun around to face Oscar who looked as if his face had been carved of stone. Behind him stood Luke looking equally angry and white in the face.
Scared of what she saw in his face,she started to explain, " Oscar,m we were just out......"
Anna stumbled with her own explanation, "It was my idea! We used to do this when we were younger...................."

But even she faltered as Luke strode up and took her by the arm in an iron grip. Oscar, his jaw working turned to Sheriff Mason, "We'll take the girls home Sheriff."
The Sheriff nodded his assent, a gleam in his eyes as he saw the funny part of the scene.
As the two Neanderthals steered Anna and Alexis out of the room, Officer Vaugh cast them a smile, " Even if the two of you aren't minors, you still deserve to be locked up!"

Alexis glared at him even as she heard Oscar mutter, " I think he's right."

Once outside, Anna seemed to regain her tongue and her sass, "You can let go of me now Luke, you've done your concerned citizen act, I'll spend te night at alex's."
Alex smiled at her friend, but quickly dimmed as Oscar grabbed her by the shoulders and put her into the cab of the pick-up he'd driven.
Turning to Luke he simply said, " You'll deal with yours?"
getting a nod, he walked to the drivers side and peeled out of the parking before Alex could even aarticulate a protest.

Glaring at Oscar's rigid profile was not helping so Alex finally spoke, "Well, what was all this storming in and taking us out for?"
A muscle clenched in Oscar's cheek as he pulled of the road, and stopped, his hands gripping the steering wheel as though he was fighting for control.

He started speaking slowly, as though with great effort," Two months ago, there was a drug bust in this town. A huge stash of marijuana was found in a barn just off the road, not a hundred meters from where you and Anna were parked if Vaugh is to be believed. And there's no need to not believe him because he was a part of the team that went into combat. Even now we suspect that there's regular activity in that part of town. Can you imagine how scary it was to know how close to danger you were?"

Alexis looked at him wide eyed. shocked by the tension and worry in Oscar's face. Muttering an apology, she slid along the seat and burrowed into his arms. For a few seconds his body remained stiff, but then he softened and wrapped his arms around Alex, planting a tender kiss into her hair, " Please don't ever put me through something like that again. I don't think I could go on if something happened to you."
A little scared too, knowing what she and Anna had narrowly escaped, Alex hugged Oscar more tightly. In an attemt to lighten the atmosphere in the car she murmered, "Oh, Officer Vaugh thought we were minors who'd run away from home? We showed him our ids, but he said we'd faked them and then he muttered imprecations all the way back."
Oscar chuckled a little, " You and Anna did look young and guilty. I'm glad he arrested you anyway."
Scowling into his face Alex retaliated, " We weren't arrested, we were merely escorted back to thhe Sheriff's office."
Stealing a short but knee melting kiss from Alex's mouth, Oscar pulled back onto the road muttering, " If you say so darling."