Ready to hide

What a day.

I parked my car in front of the police station and took a deep breath. I did it. Alec will be released tomorrow. I was happy, but the fact that this was going to be my last day at work hurt incredibly. Some wouldn't understand it because it is 'just' a job, but for me it was much more. It was my passion.

I picked up my police-badge and looked at it. Oh, how much I loved it. I still knew exactly how proud I was when I was finally allowed to wear it. It has been my dream since I was young. Protect the world, that's what I always called it back then, and now? I protected my world, Alexander.

It hurt, but I would get over it. I was strong. I lost a lot of people. I can bear it. I sighed and put the police badge back on. I unbuckled myself and got out of my car. I entered the police station and was immediately smiled at by my colleagues. I smiled back sadly.

My colleagues were great. They were always nice and friendly and did their job wonderfully. I was always proud of them and they were always proud of me. I would definitely miss everyone. Helen, Lukas, everyone.

I went to my office and saw Celine sitting in my chair with a croissant in my hand. A fully scribbled sheet of paper lay on my table. She seemed to write down theories on what might have happened. She looked up and looked at me expectantly.

"You can eat?" I asked because she couldn't this morning. She wasn't feeling that good. She nodded in delight.

"Yes, after I vomited." she let me know. "But I'm fine. It just had to get out." she explained. She got up and showed me the results. She had entered the fingerprints in the database. "Jessica Smith. What if she had murdered this woman?" Celine asked excitedly. I smiled sadly. "What is wrong?" she asked me worried. How would I explain that to her?

"You are right, she killed this woman." I admitted. She seemed very confused about it. "You solved the case." I let her know. I sat down and she too.

"Magnus, what's wrong?" she asked. "Did you talk to Lorenzo?" she wanted to know. I nodded. Yes, I did and I was happy about it. Had I known it would be that easy, I would have done it earlier.

"Yes, I did. The lousy bastard manipulated the evidence." I explained and I noticed that she was getting angry. "He knew about Alec and me." I admitted. Man that was hard to say.

"You mean he knows you love him?" she asked and I nodded. "And what have you discussed now? Does he know that Jessica is the murderer?" she asked and I nodded again. She looked very shocked. "And what about Alec now?" she asked confused. I smiled because that made me happy. I would see Alec again tomorrow.

"He will be released tomorrow. We will pick him up." I said and she clapped her hands excitedly. I grinned. She was very happy and so was I. Probably more than anyone, but I couldn't show it at that moment because I knew I had to tell the bad news to her.

"Magnus, that's great! We did it, we won!" she said happily. Did we? Yes, but Lorenzo also got what he wanted. There was no winner. He gave me the choice. "Why don't you jump out of joy?" she asked skeptically. I sighed.

"He didn't just let us win like that. He knew about me and Alec. He could have told everyone." I explained to her, but she didn't really seem to understand much. "I will quit my job." I said now. Celine's eyes widened.

"Wait what? No! Because this bastard is betraying you? I won't allow that, we have something against him too!" she said but I shook my head. It was not that easy. I could betray him, but then he would lose his job and he would betray me too. I would go to jail for committing crimes.

"He gave me the choice. Either Alec or my job." I clarified. Now Celine seemed to understand the whole situation. She put her hand on mine. "That's it." I said. My eyes went glassy.

"I'm so sorry, Magnus." she said. I nodded. "I know how much this job means to you." She said. Yes, it meant a lot to me, but not as much as Alec. "You know what? I'm going to quit my job too!" she said and I shook my head immediately. "No, don't even try to tell me not to. Do you think I'll pull the shit through here without you? I need you, and if you're not here, I'm not here." she said. A tear ran down my cheek. I smiled at Celine.

"I love you." I said. She got up and hugged me tightly. I just needed that. A hug from my best friend. The tears I shed were sadness but also tears of joy. I had Alexander back soon.

*******

"We're at home!" Celine called loudly into the apartment when we got home in the evening. I now officially unemployed. I was no longer wearing my uniform and I wouldn't be ever again.

It was hard to quit. I wanted to cry all the time, but I could pull myself together for that moment. My colleagues were shocked and didn't understand it. I told them that it was no longer my dream job, even if it was a lie. It was very emotional and I got a lot of hugs.

Celine wasn't unemployed yet, because I could persuade her to wait a little longer. I wanted her to think about it because it was an important decision. I didn't want her to give it up just because of me.

"Hey, how was your day?" Elliott asked us and kissed Celine on the lips. I smiled, because at least I had big news to announce.

"We did it, guys." I meant. Even Blake looked at me this time. Both seemed very confused, which was understandable. "Jessica Smith murdered the woman. We can pick up Alec tomorrow." I said. Suddenly I heard loud cheers. Elliott cheered and picked Celine up. He turned in circles with her and she laughed out loud.

After that it was my turn. He hugged me tightly and was still cheering. Blake smiled too. I had never seen him smile so wide before. Alec meant so much to all of us. Blake came up to me after Elliott finally let go of me.

"How? I mean, just like that?" he asked confused and happy at the same time. I smiled a little sadly and shook my head. No, not that easy.

"It turned out that my colleague, Lorenzo, had manipulated it. I found him out and he gave me an ultimatum. My job or Alec." I let her know. "And well, it's not really like I had to think about it." I said. It fell silent. Really silent.

"You mean you're not a cop now?" Elliott asked confused and I nodded with a smile. "Dude, that's really bad. I'm sorry." he said. I nodded. Yes, everyone was sorry.

"Yeah, it's okay. We won, didn't we?" I said, even if it wasn't entirely true. "I'll take a shower and go to bed. After all, tomorrow is the big day." I said and the others nodded. What a day.