Stroke of Midnight (Javert/Casual)

[NINA TENARDÍZ]

Azelma and Javert snorted almost in unison. "She always seems to be," the latter said with a smirk. She was the easiest to bag.

He raised his eyebrows at her next question, thinking on it a moment. "No, I don't live far from here. We aren't that far away from the station either...speaking of, I think I hear them coming."

Azelma snickered from inside the car. "I think you got a admirer, Detective." To that, Javert just shrugged, as if Christine wasn't even there.

There were indeed some uniformed cars coming toward them, lights flashing--two of them. Javert stood up straight and went to meet them, leaving Christine with Azelma and the two men, but leaving it open for her to follow him if she saw fit.

[lefantomeromance]

Christine followed him, of course. She did NOT want to be left alone near those creeps. Azelma didn't seems so bad, even if she was a criminal. But she didn't feel safe unless Javert was around.

She shuffled behind him in the snow, her head down, iPod low, hands in pockets. She was almost afraid to talk to any other cop, now that she was so used to Javert. It seemed natural for her to follow his lead. But she knew once they reached the car she'd have a hell of a lot of stuff do deal with. She hummed along to the music to clear her mind before it was questioned.

[NINA TENARDÍZ]

"Where you got 'em?" one of them asked, shaking the cold off with a shiver and stepping forward. Another cop stepped out of his car and went to join the little group.

Javert jerked his thumb in the direction of his car, and one of them took off that way. It was obvious that he was higher on the chain from them--they were probably not quite detectives yet.

The other one stood by Christine. "Is this the victim?" he asked, sounding much more tender than Javert.

Javert nodded. "I'm going to take her back to the station in my car."

"You? D'awww, why don't I get the pretty ladies?" he asked charmingly.

Javert just watched him, unimpressed. "You can drive Azelma if it really means that much to you, Officer," he said, pointing toward the car where the other man was assisting the little girl out of the front seat. The officer looked in that direction and frowned.

[lefantomeromance]

Christine was a little put off when the other cop obviously tried flirtting with her. Some officer of the law he was... She looked up at Javert. He was a much better choice to look after her, she thought. He was a professional. This was his life.

'What a sad life...' she mused. 'Always chasing after the bad guy... He must never have time for himself.'

Squeak Squeak! came the scurry of little mice on the street. Christine jumped a foot in the air, automatically latching onto Javert's arm. "Rats! Get them away! Ew!" She stepped blindly around her, trying to crush them with the heel of her shoe.

[NINA TENARDÍZ]

Javert was a little startled when she jumped at him, staggering to the side under her sudden weight. He watched her try to kill the rats frantically, frowning. "Daae, is that really necessary?" He barely noticed that he hadn't called her 'Miss Daae'...he called most of the people he knew by their last name, unless they asked otherwise. And even then, he didn't quite obey their wishes.

"Here, now," he said, moving her out of the way as the other officers brought the two men out of the car and past them. Azelma was taken in the other direction, to the car of the officer who had flirted with Christine.

One of the men glared heavily at Christine and then spat in Javert's face; the detective remained calm, wiping the spit off of his cheek with one eyebrow raised. "I am thoroughly intimidated," he said sarcastically to the man, then jerked his thumb toward the car. "Take him, Officer."

[lefantomeromance]

Christine was annoyed that Javert had called her simply, "Daaé," instead of using her actual name. She scooted away fromt the rats even more. When the man spit at Javert, she instinctly hid behind him, closing her eyes till they were gone.

"Is it safe?" she whispered when she thought she heard the car doors slam. "Please tell me I don't have to hide behind you forever, Mr. Javert..." She gripped his shirt, and started crying, it finally hitting her that she would have been raped, maybe even killed, by those two lunatics.

[NINA TENARDÍZ]

Javert was slightly irritated at her now, looking over his shoulder with one eyebrow raised. "Yes, they're gone. You should go back to the car." He managed to untangle himself from her grip, wishing she would get a hold of herself.

He was used to dealing with hysterical women, but in his mind, she was overreacting; nothing terrible had happened to her. A bit traumatizing, maybe, but the men who had attacked her where going to be sent to jail for their crime. If it were him, he'd be comforted by this fact.

[lefantomeromance]

Christine tried to compose herself. She realized she was being a nuisance to this kind man, and didn't want to disturb him any longer. "Alright..." she said, starting to shuffle away. Her head was down, and she pressed play on her iPod to a light song that hummed in her ear.

"You're coming, right, sir?" she asked, looking back up at him. She shoved her hands deep in her coat pockets, tapping her pointy shoe to the beat. She smiled lightly at him, trying to tell him she was fine (though she wasn't). It must have seemed odd to him to be so traumatized, but she HAD almost been raped.

[NINA TENARDÍZ]

Javert looked back at her and nodded firmly. "I just have to check in with them, then I'll take you down to the station." He turned to the two officers that were trotting over to him, having already put their cargo into the cars. With a sudden thought, he turned back to Christine a moment. "My door is probably open, you can unlock yours from there."

"We've got them all called in 'n' everything," one of the men said, hands in his pockets.

Javert turned and crossed his arms. "Alright, now, gentlemen--especially you, Finlay," he was addressing the one that had flirted with Christine, "take them straight to the station, no pit stops, do you hear me? Last time we had a problem with this."

Officer Finlay and the other one nodded, though they seemed slightly amused at Javert.

He nodded a bit and began to walk to the car.

[lefantomeromance]

Christine sat in the passenger seat of Javert's car, watching him walk back after talking to the other cops. She felt strange for sitting in the front, as if it was forbidden. But she'd feel like a convict herself is she had sat in the back, and she certainly didn't want to sit where they had been.

She narrowed her eyes, looking away whilst turning her iPod up a few notches. She buckled her seatbelt, like a good citizen, and put her head against the window, staring out into the snow. It was falling now, light clumps sticking to the ground. She smiled at it, wishing that she was home. This day had turned into a nightmare, and she wanted nothing more than to end it.

She sighed, waiting for a sign that her life was changing for the better. This seemed to be more for the worse.

[NINA TENARDÍZ]

Javert looked up at the sky a moment, shaking off the snow that was falling. He frowned a moment; he'd never been a big fan of snow, and now it would mean he'd have to slow down while driving.

Well, stuff that. He'd just have to manage.

He opened the car door and slid in, barely glancing at the girl now sitting in the seat next to him. He would have to take her in for questioning, and it was pretty late, but then again...what else did he have to do but sleep? He never got a satisfactory amount of sleep anyway; if he went home, he'd get distracted with some case or other.

"If it makes you feel any better," he said, pointing vaguely to the roof, "it's an unmarked car, so you're not making a scene."

It was then noticeable, as it hadn't really been before-- the badge and coat had thrown her off earlier. But he really wasn't dressed in a uniform as the other officers had been. And his car was unmarked. He must have been important...

[lefantomeromance]

"Thank you for the reassurance, Detective..." She said. She didn't say much else, however, and waited for him to start the car. At least he was trying to be friendly and warm. Otherwise, he was not... It made her wish even more that she had taken the long road home that night. Javert was nice and all, but he wasn't what she needed at this point.

"Um... how long will I have to stay... at the police station, I mean. I really need some sleep..." She realized how much her feet were hurting at this point, but she dare not kick off her boots. "I don't think my apartment is far from it..."

[NINA TENARDÍZ]

Javert started the car, turning on his brights and starting to roll slowly down the alley. The snow swirled in front of him, cutting off the light, and so he was forced to kill the brights, which he didn't seem to happy about. He adjusted his rear-view mirror and then changed gears as they rolled into the main street.

"Not for long. Maybe forty-five minutes, probably less. We just need to document this and get an I.D. on you and them." He said it in a casual tone, like something like this happened every day. There was no sympathy in his voice; although he understood that the situation she was in was terrible, he wasn't even sure where to begin with showing sympathy.

[lefantomeromance]

Christine sighed. Forty-five minutes. What a wait. It normally wouldn't be that long, but after all that had happened, it seemed like an eternity. An eternity she certainly didn't want to spend with Javert. And she definitely hoped to never see those men again.

She fiddled with her scarf, wondering if Raoul was thinking about her, wherever he was. He would never guess what had happened to her, and if he had, he would have been furious. He wouldn't treat this like any other event, like this Javert was. If Raoul were here, those men wouldn't have lived to see the next day. Oh, though she didn't condone killing, so she probably would have stopped him. But it would have been a nice thought, from him. It was different with Javert.

She was beginning to dislike the man.

[NINA TENARDÍZ]

They passed the car ride in silence, which seemed to suit Javert well- he didn't seem like one to converse with... well... anyone, really. But that was just a first impression. He didn't make the greatest first impression on Christine, and was aware of this. To him, she seemed like she was just being whiny. He had saved her and gotten her a car separate from her attackers- that was his job. What more did she want?

The nearest police station was on Ryer Ave., just a few streets from where the attack had taken place. Those were some stupid rapists, he thought to himself, amused. Not even a mile from a police station? If they were that bumbling, it was just another reason to arrest them.

As he pulled the cruiser into a free space that was lining the front of the building, he glanced up at it. The station was a stout but intimidating building, with a badge announcing its authority on the front wall and old wooden doors, set inward; an old building. It reminded Javert of those old stuffy law offices back in New Orleans, in the middle of September with a broken air conditioner, only a fan to blow the stifling air around. The top floor of this building had air conditioners stuffed in the windows, even in the winter.

He stopped the car and got out, then circled around the back and opened Christine's. Well, at least he had some manners.