TITLE: House Arrest (29/35)
PAIRING: Lindsay/Cindy
DISCLAIMER: Women’s Murder Club does not belong to me. The characters do not belong to me. They are the property of James Patterson, 20th Century Fox Television and ABC. I have no problems with that as long as I can borrow them for short bursts and use them in pursuit of my own enjoyment. I am not trying to infringe. Though, I don’t know why anyone has a problem with fan fic. After all, it really is a compliment. If anyone wants to write fan fiction about my book, feel free.

(1/2 Cindy’s POV)

A public scolding, that’s all it had really come down to. The judge called her forward, told her what a bad girl she had been, and allowed the assistant district attorney to sum up her civic disgrace by announcing that the owner of the office she had taken the files from had decided to drop the charges.

The judge seemed rather frustrated by that, and couldn’t resist the extra verbal spanking of telling her she may not be so lucky the next time. She wanted to tell him that she’d already heard this speech, from someone that she actually cared about disappointing, so he could save his breath. But, being intimately familiar with all things contempt of court, and not particularly wanting to start this whole masochistic cycle over, she kept her mouth shut.

The judge pounded his gavel, and that was it. She was free to go.

Jill winked at her discretely as she turned to walk back through the courtroom. And then she saw Lindsay, standing up in the last row, before she motioned to the door and walked out.

Cindy knew that she’d be waiting for her outside, and really wished that she wouldn’t. The drive over had been hard enough. She was getting tired of pretending that she was fine with this, that she was perfectly content with the gigantic step back they had just taken. But she would keep pretending, because it’s all that she could do, and Lindsay seemed okay with it. But the sooner she could get away from her, the better.

Lindsay was leaning against the wall across from the courtroom doors when she stepped out into the hallway. She smiled, so Cindy smiled back.

“You didn’t have to stay,” Cindy said, sounding deceptively upbeat even to herself.

“You could have needed rescuing. What if the charges had stuck and the judge demanded remand? He really wanted to.”

“Picked up on that did you?”

“If he had his way, you’d be learning the ropes on death row.”

And they both chuckled, but the laughter was muted. It would be a while before things would be comfortable between them again.

“Do you want a ride home,” Lindsay asked.

“I promised Jill a very expensive coffee drink for getting me off the hook, so I’m going to wait for her. Then, she’s going to drive me home.”

Lindsay nodded slowly.

“Okay,” she said, and took a step forward.

It took all of Cindy’s determination not to take a step back.

Lindsay’s hand slid over her shoulder and pulled Cindy into her, and Lindsay’s arms crossed over her back. Cindy gave in, slid her arms around Lindsay’s waist and hugged her. She could smell Lindsay’s hair and turned into it. Her hands clutched more tightly than they should have to Lindsay’s leather jacket. She felt Lindsay’s lips against the side of her head and then she was letting go, and the hallway felt really cold.

“I’ll see you soon,” Lindsay said, tucking her hands into her pockets.

“Yeah,” Cindy said back.

Lindsay smiled and walked off. Cindy watched her walk down the hallway, watched her all the way until she turned a corner and was out of sight. Then, she moved to the closest bench and sunk down on it.

For some time, she just sat there, because she didn’t feel like moving, and any kind of shift had the potential to start the waterworks. But she knew that Jill would be coming out of court soon, and she didn’t want to have to explain the fact that she was still there. So, she pulled out her cell phone and dialed.

“Hi. Could I please get a cab?”