You Saved Me

“Good job Tanner. Excellent.” a burly officer said to the wounded agent who sat on the edge of the ambulance.

He absentmindedly nodded his head while a paramedic wrapped his other hand as he held the ice pack to his chest from where Gables had shot him close range, leaving a small circular mark on his chest from where his vest stopped the bullet, and looked across his front yard to see the other medic taking care of Brittany.

She winced as they went to work on her arms and legs and especially her cheek.

They didn’t understand the concept of light touches on open wounds, but whatever they were putting on her cuts made them go numb after a few seconds so it was a little bearable for them to touch her.

“And then what happened?” Laura who was standing next to her asked while she lightly ran her fingers through the teenage girls hair.

“Bobby just shot him. I kicked him in the chest and Bobby shot him. Then Bobby passed out and before I knew it, all of you people were here.” she answered while the middle aged Asian woman sent her a smile before putting a butterfly bandage on her cheek.

“She’ll be fine now. She just has to ice her cheek for at least every half hour for the next 2 hours to keep the swelling down. Other than that, just some cuts that will go away within two weeks.” she stated before she started closing up her little kit and made her way towards her vehicle before leaving. Taking away a small part of the flashing red lights.

She scanned the area around her as Laura pulled her into a soft hug.

There was caution tape practically enclosing them. Dozens of police officers were walking around taking pictures and talking. Witness Protection Program Agents were walking around congratulating Bobby on his fine work. And that’s when a whole bunch of questions entered her mind.

“Laura…” she said trailed off quietly and the woman pulled away from Brittany to look at her arms length away.

“What?” she asked sweetly with a small smile on her face as a few tears started to collect in her eyes.

“I don’t understand some things and maybe you cou-”

“Did you want to see him?” a man’s voice cut her off and the two looked over to see him standing at one end of a stretcher while a body was laying on it with a grayish blue sheet draped over it.

“What?” Brittany asked somewhat confused as to whether or not the question was in reference to her or Laura.

“Did you want to get a look at him?” the guy asked her again and she read the Coroner tag on his right shoulder.

“Why would I want to look at him?” she snapped at the man who looked un phased by her outburst.

“Sometimes the victim’s just want closure. I was just wondering if you wanted to get a look at him before it’s gone. For closure purposes.”

She felt Laura pat her back softly to let her know she was there for support if she wanted to and she quickly nodded her head before she stood up slowly from her seat.

She moved one arm from under the brown wooly blanket that she was currently wrapped up in and took a deep breath for what she was about to do. She was actually going to get a good look at her mother and father’s killer for the first time ever.

She slowly inched her hand towards the corner of the sheet while Laura lightly rubbed her back, and she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. But right as she touched the sheet, she opened her eyes and took a step away.

“Ya know what. I’d rather not. I’ve had nightmares of a faceless man for the last 9 years. I don’t need to actually know what he looks like. As long as he’s dead, that’s the only closure I need.” she stated and made her way back to her spot.

The Coroner just shrugged his shoulders before wheeling off the corpse to his little vehicle and quickly left, taking some more of the red lights and little bit of the blue.

“Anyways, what did you want to know?” Laura asked once they were seated again.

“Everything that you didn’t tell me. Like what the hell Bobby didn’t die? And why everyone is congratulating him? Why was there a gun in my closet? And most importantly, what’s going to happen to me now that I’m not in the program anymore? Where do I go from here?”

Laura looked at Brittany’s curious eyes and she let a tear slip from one of her own before hastily brushing it away.

She took a deep breath as Brittany’s unfaltering look bore into her eyes.

“Bobby didn’t die because he’s one of our agents. The reason he hadn’t been around the last couple of weeks was when Gables had all those sightings so he was doing a whole lot of follow up paperwork. Once we knew Gables broke California state lines, he started carrying a gun more and wearing a bullet proof vest and put a gun in your closet. Gables shot him in the chest and since Bobby was wearing a bullet proof vest he didn’t die. But it did knock him out for a little bit. Also, he passed out because of the struggle between him and Gables. That’s the only thing I didn’t tell you about. The program advisors thought it would be better for you if you didn’t know that Bobby was an agent. It would have only made you more scared about your situation. And with what’s going to happen to you? I’m not really sure myself. If anything, you can come back and live with me in New York until we figure it out.”

Brittany sat there, not knowing what to say or to think. All this time she was living with an agent. So technically, he knew everything about her case. It all made sense now too. Why he wasn’t around as much. Why he was so good about not asking her questions about her past. He already knew so there was no reason as to why he had to ask. And that’s when it hit her.

Everything between the two of them, as in a father/daughter relationship was a lie.

All of it.

He was only acting like that to protect her. Not because he wanted to but because he had to.

And it took everything in her to not cross the yard and start yelling at him for making her feel more left out of a family than she ever felt to begin with.

She almost called him dad and one time, he of course didn’t hear her, but she said she loved him. He was the closest thing to a father figure she ever had after her father left, and it was all a sham.

‘Part of the job.’

“BRITTANY!” a panicked voice broke her from her thoughts and her head snapped back over to the direction to which it came from and what she saw made her heart soar.It was one of the two things she knew was real and not ‘part of the job.’

There was Joe.

Struggling against two cops to get through to her and she got up and ran to him while happy and sad tears sprang from her eyes and she yelled at the cops to let him through.

They finally let go of him just in time for her to crash into him and his waiting hug.

He squeezed her close to his body for dear life and she never felt so loved, safe and happy before in her life than this particular moment.

“What happened? Are you ok? What’s going on? Is Bob-” he rambled off but she chuckled into his chest and squeezed him tighter to her if possible.

She took a big breath and her whole body was filled with tingles from how good he smelt and how wonderful it felt to have him this close to her after the last 3 days.

And that’s when she got hit again with her questions.

“What are you doing here?” she asked him, remembering him saying that he wasn’t going to be home until tomorrow.

“I was going crazy with how things were left off between us and I made my family go insane so we left right after we had dinner in Jersey. But what’s going on? Are you alright? Why is there all these cops around?” he spit out at hyper speed again.

She was practically bursting at the seams with how happy she was.

She could tell him.

She could tell him everything.

Gables was dead. She was no longer in the program. They could finally be together again.

“How long do you have? It’s quite a bit of a story.” she stated while pulling him close to her while a wave euphoria was sent through her body from one tiny little thought.

I’m free.

Free from being scared. Free from lies. Free from everything that was holding her back the last 9 years.

“I have all the time in the world.” he stated to her while he planted a kiss on her forehead and then pulled away from her and was sent into a state of shock from seeing her slowly swelling cheek and seeing all the cuts on her arms that were bandaged up.

“Oh my god what happened!?!!” he yelled and she giggled somewhat from his delayed reaction.

“Here. Let’s go over there and sit down.” she stated while pointing to the little concrete step outside her front door.

He nodded his head obediently and followed her while grasping her hand tightly.

Once they sat down, she launched into her story.

How she was the girl from her scary story she told him 2 and a half months ago. How Steph knew everything and that’s how they grew so close so quickly. That Bobby wasn’t really her uncle and that he was an agent all along. Why she had to break up with him in order to protect him and his family and why she made Steph talk them into going back to Jersey for Thanksgiving.

“And Bobby shot him and then next thing I knew all these cops were here. But none of that matters. You’re here now. You know. Everything’s fine now and we can be together.” she stated and she leaned towards him to pull him into an excited hug but he leaned away from her while putting his hands up.

His head was swimming with all this new information, but one thing stuck out the most.

She lied. She lied about everything.

“What’s wrong?” she asked him from his lack of a hug.

Joe never backed out of a hug.

Wouldn’t he be happy that he knows everything now and that we can be together?

“You lied to me.” was all he said and she straightened up slightly while looking at him with confused eyes.

“What are you talking about? How did I lie to you?”

“Everything!” he shot back at her and she jumped slightly from his tone he was using with her. “You lied to me the second we were introduced. Your name is Brittany. You don’t live with your Uncle and you to-”

“Hey! I never said that Bobby was my uncle. You just assumed that since I told you I lived with other family members that he was one too.”

“Which was still a lie! You never lived with family members so don’t even try and pin this on me. Sure, maybe I assumed wrong but you never did or said anything to make me think otherwise which is just as bad. And what’s up with Steph? Is she an agent too or something?”

“What the hell are you talking about? How can Steph be an agent? She’s 19 for crying out loud.” she shot back at him while standing up, him following suit.

“Well then how come she was privileged to know about your secret life and not me. I thought I was the one who made you feel vulnerable? And yet she’s the one who got to know everything about you? She got to know the real you!”

“Joe…” Brittany snapped out but then bit down on her lip, trying to keep her temper down a little bit for both of their sakes. “Just because she knew about my past didn’t mean that you didn’t know me? This is me. It’s always been me.”

“How do I know that? The you that I know, at least I thought it knew, wouldn’t tell me lies. For all I know you could be lying about who you really are right now and your real name is Katie or Jessica or hey…maybe for a joke it’s really Trisha.” he said with anger and talking with his hands to show how upset he was. “You really are just like all the other girls.” he said to her and then scoffed when she didn’t say anything back to him.

With him saying that, it was like a stab to the heart. She knew exactly what he meant by that.

All the other girls he referred her too were girls he dated who just wanted to be with him because he was famous, and that was defiantly not her case. She wanted to be with him because she loved him.

He turned his back to her and started walking away while fresh tears escaped from her eyes and made their way down her cheeks when she realized that he still didn’t know.

And if she didn’t say it now, she never would get the chance to again.

She could just tell by the tone in his voice and from his last statement that he didn’t want anything to do with her and it was only a matter of seconds before he would be out of her life for good.

“Joe please…” she begged as she ran after him when she saw that he was almost to his car.

Even though her heart broke when she broke up with him, it felt like it was being shattered into tiny pieces right now with how upset he was with her and so willing to walk out of her life.

“It’s always been me Joe. Just a different name. You have to believe me!”

“Why?” he snapped at her as he turned around quickly, staring her down. “Why do I have to believe you? There’s nothing to keep me in your life. Go have fun living it up in some other state and lying to more people. I’m done.” he stated and then turned back around and made his way to his car.

With every word that came out of his mouth, it was like another stab to an already bad wound, and yet she wanted to keep him there with her. Make him see why she had to do everything she did. Make him understand.

“You said you loved you. If you can’t believe anything else at least believe in that!” she said to him, causing him to stop with his hand on the door handle.

“Joe…” she ran the rest of the distance since he was just standing there.

It’s now or never.

“Joe. I love you. I wanted to tell you, but it was just bad timing.” she started off loudly to having it fade off into a whisper when she noticed how his hard expression was on his face while looking at her.

It truly pained her to see him so upset with her, but she had to say it to him. He had a right to know how she felt before all of this got messed up.

“I love you Joseph Adam Jonas.” she said softly.

He stood there, his jaw tight and a hard look in his eye but after a few seconds he scoffed and she let out a defeated sigh, knowing that nothing good was going to come next from.

He leaned down towards her face, leaving mere inches between them and she closed her eyes, getting ready for the final stab to her open wound.

“That’s real rich. You tell me you love me to get me stay. Nice.” he said sarcastically before he turned around and got into his car, slamming the door shut and starting it.

A single tear made its way from her right eye and rolled down her cheek while she heard a weird noise that she assumed was his window because of how clear his final words to her were.

“I never want to talk to you again. Got it?”

She kept her eyes shut and let her head drop while biting her lip to keep it from trembling and then nodded her head.

She heard the same weird noise, indicating that he was rolling up his window and she took that as her cue to turn around and make her way back to the house and all the cops and agents that she previously had forgotten about.

It wasn’t until she was hit her front lawn that she heard his car pull away from where it was parked across the street and she broke down into tears, falling to her knees and balling her eyes out.

Who knew that this would be how it would end between the two.