Work Cut Out For Us

[Samantha Vaccari]

Parking detail. There was nothing worse than being the police officer who had to hand out parking tickets. Sam found it more of an annoyance than anything; still, the Boston woman walked around downtown, eyeing the parking meters in a mild boredom.

Upon passing a Dodge minivan, Sam raised her eyebrows. The parking meter had expired. Legally speaking, the officer was required to write up a ticket and place it under their wiper, but instead Sam searched her pockets, pulling out a handful of change and sticking a quarter into the meter before walking off.

It was less paperwork.

However, when her dark eyes landed on a familiar car, and then to the expired meter it was parked at, her lips pulled upward into a grin. This was just too good. If anyone were to be on top of keeping track of their parking time, she would. Yet there it was.

The brunette stepped towards the car, choosing to lean against the side of it, arms folded and grin growing. Time to wait.

[Ellis Vaccari]

Theoretically speaking, Ellis knew how her time was handled. Because in theory, the few errands she was forced to handle should have taken less time than it had. Theoretically, even with excess time allocated for potential insurmountable odds, she should have been fine. Cutting it close with pending lines, but still fine.

She knew her time was up, but she knew it'd be barely so.

Stepping back towards her car, Ellis faltered on a step when she realised an overtly familiar face was waiting for her. Another moment of as glance and her dark eyes traveled from her face down the line of her form. Slowly, she took in the sight of the Boston woman in uniform. Before she realised she was doing so, and she promptly snapped her attention up.

"Hi."

[Samantha Vaccari]

Sam knew well that Ellis wouldn't be long. The blonde managed her time well, and as expected, she appeared only minutes after Sam settled against the car.

It wasn’t hard to spot her. It never was. She watched the way Ellis faltered, and the way her eyes traveled down her form. The Boston woman pressed her lips into a hard line in an attempt to suppress the smug grin that threatened to play about her lips.

Sam pushed herself from the car, immediately pulling her pad of tickets out from a pocket, taking a second to glance down at her form before focusing on the paper. “Hello, ma’am.” She replied, pulling out the most professional tone she could. “Are you aware you’ve caused a parking violation?”

[Ellis Vaccari]

Despite the way in which the Boston woman fought the grin threatening her lips, Ellis picked up on it all the same. It carried in the same motion that she'd settled to the fact that she was always going to look to her counterpart in the same way when she saw her. She couldn't help the way her eyes travelled. Nor could Sam help the way that fact forced a response. Even she didn't have that much control over a face.

Still, her gaze dropped to the officer's hip as she pushed away from the car, before moving to watch the way her hands drew a pad of tickets. As her eyes caught her dark ones, she watched the way they moved instead. It wasn't a new thing, to have the  Boston woman's eyes traverse her. Nor was it out of the ordinary. But it felt new. Each and every time.


"Really?" She asked, pressing her lips together as lightly as she could. She felt mildly irked by her own broken outburst, "Are you-" Raising her eyebrows momentarily, she closed her eyes and breathed a sigh. "Yes."

[Samantha Vaccari]

It was impossible to keep her eyes off the blonde. Her figure was committed to memory, yet that did little to stop the Boston woman from taking in her counterpart’s form. Even as she clicked her pen and began to write out the ticket, she offered another glance to Ellis.

And when she spoke out in such a way, Sam fully turned her attention to the blonde. She took in the way her lips pressed together. The twitch of her eyebrows.

She didn’t try to answer Ellis’s unfinished question; she knew the answer, and Sam knew that. She remained quiet, letting her counterpart continue, dark eyes focusing on her lips as she sighed, and the way her eyes closed.

It took every ounce of willpower not to kiss her right then and there.

Sam felt her jaw unwillingly clench. A natural reaction to not getting what she wanted. Still, she forced herself to continue writing out the ticket. “Unfortunately, I’m going to have to give you a ticket for this. It’s a serious violation.”

[Ellis Vaccari]

After a spare moment or two, Ellis opened her eyes and settled her gaze on Sam's expression. The tension she carried in her jaw wasn't lost on the blonde; it was imperative information. The kind she opted to take in and remember. She was almost certain she knew what that move meant.

The technician slowly curled her arms around herself, her fingers playing into the fabric at her sides lightly.

"What constitutes a serious violation?" Ellis asked, and she seemed genuinely curious as she took a single step in the officer's direction.

[Samantha Vaccari]

Sam was very aware of the single step her counterpart took, and she took in a slow breath, trying to keep her composure.

“I’m glad you asked.” Sam forced her gaze away, continuing to write on the pad of tickets carefully. She knew all of the information needed to fill it out, and didn’t bother to request her counterpart’s license. “Your meter ran out four minutes ago, possibly longer as that is only when I arrived at the scene of the crime.”

She raised her eyebrows, lips pressing into a hardline as she tried to keep herself from grinning. “And you have yet to move your vehicle, despite being here for a minute yourself.” She tapped the end of the pen on her paper, glancing up at Ellis. Her grin broke through. Really, any attempt to hide it in the first place was pointless.

“And, seeing as you’re just hanging out around here.” Sam spun her pen once before pointing to the No Loitering sign only a few feet away. She then glanced at her watch. “Five minutes now.”

[Ellis Vaccari]

The fact that Sam broke eye contact didn't force Ellis to look away. She didn't need to shift her attention to know she was writing. Her choice of words - the scene of the crime, as it were - didn't deter the blonde like it would most. She supposed that technically, it was true, even if this wasn't what most people would list as an imperative crime.

Four minutes. So precise. So technically correct. She glanced down at her mouth briefly, thankful she wasn't looking to catch the involuntary action.

But she did it again when she realised that she was grinning. It was a little unfair, but she was determined to push through regardless. Still, she glanced up at the sign she was directed to. Anything not to be looking at her in that moment.

"I'm waiting for my ticket," She replied, her neutrality poignant as she stepped closer still, "I wasn't aware I was within my rights to leave without receiving it."

[Samantha Vaccari]

All while Ellis was there, the officer had been keeping her keen eyes on the time, so when she had spoken, it had been four minutes. Exactly. And she caught the way her eyes traveled in the time she had glanced at the blonde.

She finished writing, her thumb brushing across the ink to secure that it was dry as she looked back at Ellis fully now, her grin only growing as she tried to bring logic. Of course, Ellis was right, but it did little to deter the Boston woman, even as she felt herself tense from the sheer proximity of her counterpart.

“Oh, love, you’re allowed to leave.” Sam couldn’t stop herself from dropping the nickname. Sam raised her eyebrows once, allowing her gaze to drop down the blonde’s form briefly. This time, the officer dared to take a step forward, leaning in slightly so Ellis could still hear her even as her voice dropped. “But that means I’d just have to chase you.”

Sam continued to linger for a moment before finally easing back. She straightened her back, tugging at her pad and pulling a ticket from it. With the most professional expression she could muster in that moment, Sam extended the ticket towards the blonde. “Ma’am.”

[Ellis Vaccari]

Ellis felt her eyebrows quirk up once when Sam called to her; love. She watched the way she moved closer. Close enough to touch - to feel - but so very far away given the colour she wore. The idea of being chased in any way by this woman brought back memories of a younger time. She cleared her throat; "I'm not sure you'd be welcome at my home."

A slight test for the woman with the keen eyes and the intoxicatingly wonderful grin.

Ellis glanced at the ticket held out towards her before she looked at her counterpart again. Reaching forward, she brushed her fingertips across the back of her hand before she pulled it from her grasp. And she reached into her pocket for her keys, stepping towards her car.

Before she stopped.

"When I go to pay this," She started, choosing not to move until she'd shifted the keys in her hands, "Am I able to file some kind of report on a corrupt officer I know?"

[Samantha Vaccari]

In reality, Sam should have taken her counterpart’s statement more seriously. That she might have just pushed her luck by handing her a ticket. Yet any thoughts of doing so slipped from her mind. She was too amused, and the way her grin didn’t falter was fact enough for it. “I suppose I could order a search warrant.” She shot back lightly.

Her dark eyes didn’t drop to the ticket as Ellis’s had, instead she focused on the blonde’s mouth, letting it hold her gaze for a few moments. Her uniform forbid her from getting any closer, but it did little to stop her from looking. And Sam always looked.

She unwillingly faltered in the smallest of ways as she felt familiar fingertips brush against the back of her hand. Her grip tightened slightly on the ticket, leaving a small wrinkle in the paper as it finally slipped from her fingers.

And just as quickly, Sam regained the small amount of composure she had lost. Stepping aside, she let Ellis get to the car. She had yet to make any move to leave, and before she could, Sam’s attention was caught by the way she stopped. The question she posed brought a light laugh from Sam. “We always take our complaints very seriously.”

[Ellis Vaccari]

"It might be the only way I'd let you in." Ellis tried, her neutral expression maintaining it's composure despite the surge of emotion. Irritation? Perhaps. But she couldn't deny that she did do something wrong, and she should have to pay for it.

The smallest bend in the paper wasn't quite as evident to Ellis as it was to Sam, but she registered it all the same. She ran it between her fingers, smoothing the almost insignificant crease as best she could.

"And what's the policy for police harassment?" Ellis asked, "I wouldn't like her to be suspended."

And why not? She assumed the answer was obvious, but she spoke up anyway; "I'd have to spend all day with her."

[Samantha Vaccari]

Sometimes, Sam needed a very forward attitude in order to understand she had gone too far. She easily got caught up in these moments; it was a trait she carried since before she had met the blonde, and one she could never quite get out of her system. Especially when she reacted in the ways she did.

But now she offered so little. Even with her eyesight, the brunette had trouble spotting the physical cues in her counterpart’s expression. Sam instinctively pressed her lips into a hardened line, trying to keep her lips from pulling downwards.

The inability to read her counterpart’s expression visibly irked the officer, and so she shifted her attention to the ticket in her hands. The way she pressed out the nearly invisible crease.

“It could be enough for her to lose her job, depending on how serious the case is.” She said, trying to be as casual as she could about the matter, but now that it was evident she did something wrong, it was hard to ignore. She crinkled her nose in response before looking back up at the technician. “I doubt you’d get anything done if that happened, eh?” Her eyebrows twitched upward. Still trying. Always trying.

[Ellis Vaccari]

"She breaks the law quite often." Ellis explained. Though Sam's were only minor offences - insignificant things to make life a little easier for others - they were offences nonetheless. Things she told the blonde in confidence. But she never expected a ticket, so really, didn't that say all bets were off?

But Sam tried. And in any other moment, Ellis would give in to her. Because look at her.

No, she didn't let her eyes wander again.

"I'd get plenty done." Ellis replied, pausing to fold the ticket neatly and tuck it into her back pocket; "I'd still have a job."

Stepping toward the car finally, she unlocked the door without so much as a second glance for her beloved counterpart. She pulled it open, momentarily leaning against it as she finally looked over her shoulder. "And I'm not easily distracted."

A bold, bold faced lie. But Ellis turned her head away and sat in the car before Sam could see the way the corner of her mouth threatened a smile.