Never Once Were We Perfect

Their relationship is something that will be in pieces if she told him the truth, but it’s in pieces when she lies anyway.

Never Once Were We Perfect

Jude forced himself to look away from the picture on his work desk. It was of him and Emma, the beautiful brunette that had come into his life seemingly just to tease him. She was something that he couldn’t get rid of, the temptation to call her, to write her, to show up at her house with flowers and chocolate. He loved her, and since Felicity had passed, that was saying something.

Every time they tried dating, every time they tried to have a hint of a normal relationship. Something pulled them apart. Either it was his work, or her secrets. Never did she stay truthful with him. It was always a lie, or hiding something from him. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t figure out what it was.

Aro’s great detective? He couldn’t even figure out what was going on in his girlfriend’s life. With a sigh, he flipped the picture frame down.

~~~~~~

Another crime scene, another burglary and yet there Emma was. She always said she was a reporter on these types of things, but he never saw any articles in the paper about them. But there she was, just like every other time. She was in a navy blue dress that went to her knees. She was leaning up on one of the exhibits, something Jude was sure the museum wasn’t going to be fond of. She had a small rectangular notebook in one hand, and a pencil in the other.

She didn’t have to say anything, she smiled that irresistible smile of hers and he came at her demand. Her relaxed position on the exhibit didn’t change. “Oh detective,” she began, a giggle admitting from her lips like she knew a dirty little secret that everyone else didn’t know. “Is there anything that you can enlighten the public on this crime?” Their eyes met and he noticed that her eyes were especially emerald today.

“Well we suspect it’s the same burglar from the other crimes around the city. Same type of location, same feminine figure on the video cameras.” He told her, and she scribbled down in her little notepad as he spoke.

“Are you ever going to catch her? If she keeps stealing these priceless valuables, surely someone in the city is getting angry. And it’s probably best we keep the city’s officials happy.” Another scribble.

“We are trying our hardest, Miss Cleaver. Believe me, I can’t wait to snatch her and get the items back.”

“Maybe she’s better than what you are expecting?” Did she wink? No, surely not. She was looking back down at her notebook now, she hadn’t winked. Why would she wink?

“I have no doubt that she’s a good thief, seeing as she’s gotten away every time, even after she tripped the alarms.”

“Have any guards seen her? If she’s tripped the alarms, then surely?”

“Well there were guards at the scene of the crime this morning, the one that actually saw her was injured and couldn’t give a description much more besides what we already know.”

“How injured was he?”

“Bruised ribs. Apparently our burglar is a capable fighter.”

“I see. Is there anything else you can add on the subject, Detective?” She looked up from her notepad, and smiled at him. He knew that smile, and he could guess at what she was thinking.

“You know as much as I, Miss Cleaver.”

“Jude, what are you doing?” Just as she opened her mouth to respond to him, Harrison’s voice came calling. Emma’s smirk disappeared as they both directed their attention at Jude’s partner. When he saw Emma, his mouth twisted into the shape of an ‘o’ and seemed to understand.

“He’s just answering some of my questions, Detective. No worries. I won’t harm your Partner…” Emma patted Jude on the shoulder, and let her nails trail down his back where Harrison couldn’t see.

~~~~~

Emma hated lying to Jude. At first this had been a game, a little game of cat and mouse that she liked to play with him. She would steal something, leave little to no evidence (except for the video cameras) and then show up at the crime scene the next morning and tease the Detective about it as a journalist. She wasn’t really a journalist, she had done some freelance work for an online paper about the crimes, but since then she had been using this as her cover-up to see Jude.

Within a matter of meetings, a matter of crimes, he had asked her out and she said yes. It wasn’t actually suppose to get this far. She wasn’t supposed to date him, or have that horrible butterfly sensation when she saw him. Or feel guilty when she stood him up to do this, to steal, to lie, to be Xavier’s little toy. She had told Xavier when this had first started, “Oh I won’t get attached.” She was getting attached, she was feeling guilty, and she was feeling like turning everything around for him.

She bit her lip, pushing thoughts to the back of her mind as she picked the lock of the roof access. And yet, once she picked the lock and opened the door, the thoughts were right back in her head. She wanted to just come out and tell Jude, “Oh hey, by the way I’m the thief. I go by the name Alethea. I’m sorry, it’s this naughty little addiction of mine… Can you forgive me please? I’ll give you everything back; just don’t be mad at me.”

She crept down the stairs, tiptoeing in her boots. She wasn’t even sure what her goal was tonight, but she hadn’t had a goal in months. Her mind wandered during jobs, she got sloppy even if the police didn’t know she was getting sloppy. She had no goals, no patterns of items; she just did it to do it.

She fought the urge to groan when she heard the footsteps of a guard. She walked to the bottom of the stairs and peered around the corner. No one.

“Freeze. Put your hands in the air and turn around or I will shoot.” She knew that voice and cursed to herself, she couldn’t believe her luck, or lack of luck. Well, this was a good time as any, she guessed. She raised her hands and faced him, thankful that there was some kind of mask over her face. However Jude knew her, if he didn’t know it was her, on top of her incredibly obnoxious hints…

“I guess you’ve caught me Officer, you can lock me up and throw away the key.” Hands were still in the air, and she stared at his pistol. He wouldn’t. He would recognize her voice, no matter if she tried to disguise it or not. He wouldn’t shoot her. He’d snap into a realization and they’d both have this incredibly awkward moment where he realized what she had been hiding.

This. This was what she had been hiding. /Please Jude, don’t make this more difficult than it’s going to be already. Please./ He was staring at her, pistol still pointed straight at her chest. She knew he was a good shot, they had talked about it often enough. He would do his job if he had to. She could avoid museum night-guard bullets, but someone that had caught her red-handed sneaking down from the roof? Did she even want to fight with Jude?

“You’re under arrest for the theft of dozens of priceless items.” Gun still pointed, he reached for his cuffs. She bit her cheek hard, trying to figure out what to do. She had to figure something out. Anything, to get out of this situation and get far away from him. He couldn’t find out like this. Why did this job have to be so fulfilling to her?

“I’m sorry, Officer. Did you really think it was going to be this easy?” With a swift, fast moment, she kicked the pistol out of his hands and down the hallway. The cuffs dropped to the floor. She didn’t want to hurt him, and there was only one thing left to do.

Run.

She didn’t hesitate for one moment; she took her chance of stunning Jude and ran up the stairs that she came from. He was fast behind her, and she knew when she reached the roof, she would have to figure something out and fast if she didn’t want to be shot, or tackled, or be accidently shoved off the building.

Oh, such options this brought her.

“Stop! You’re only going to make this worse on yourself if you run!” It was true, she knew it was true. But she knew Jude, and she knew that he may have been just as or more athletic than her, but when it came to gymnastics and things like jumping from rooftop to rooftop when running. She was almost sure she had the cake.

There were enough close surrounding buildings, that she could jump to any of them and the fall wouldn’t hurt that bad if she rolled. They were only a story or two below her current height, and all the buildings had somewhere she could jump. She ran to the edge of the building, took a deep breath and she ignored Jude’s, “Don’t do it! It’s not worth it.” He was thinking something entirely different, and she was thankful.

Maybe he wouldn’t follow her.

She backed up slightly, and ran off the edge. She rolled when she hit the ground, and continued running. She could hear Jude yelling. He wouldn’t take that jump; there was no way in hell. She continued to run and run as fast as she could. She was no gifted being, but that didn’t mean that she couldn’t run.

Rooftop to rooftop she ran, until she was sure that she was just a speck in Jude’s vision if he was still watching her, that’s when she stopped. She had to stop and sit down so she could catch her breath and not feeling like she was going to pass out. She felt like kicking herself. How could she be so stupid? How could she let him catch her? She could have just ended up in jail for a matter of years, if not the rest of her life, if she hadn’t run.

She could have ended up breaking Jude’s heart letting him find out that way. He needed to know, but he didn’t need to find out like that. With a groan of frustration she lied back on the roof and ripped her mask off, staring at the cloudy sky above her. She needed to get home.

Author's Note

If you like this check out Project Nocens.