[i][h3]"Welcome home, Detective Monroe."[/h3][/i]
[i]The cheery automated voice greeted Leon as he stepped through the threshold of his District Four apartment, droplets of rain lazily falling from his jacket-clad shoulders onto his glossy-black NAPD armor. The door quietly hissing shut behind him, Leon tossed his police badge and keycard into a small bowl by the entryway, feeling his stress instantly start to dissipate in the freshly-scented atmosphere. He was home for the night. 

Absently brushing a few damp strands of hair from his face, Leon casually strolled into the living room, hearing the droll voice of a TV news anchor relaying some stock story or another about crime rates in Beta, the NAPD's "stalwart war against corruption", and any other out-of-district humdrum that the good sycophants of Alpha would have no need to worry over from this side of the Wall. 

"Mal? You home?" Leon called out, turning his attention towards the empty room itself, fluidly taking off his jacket and tossing it on the nearby couch. No doubt Mal would appear the instant his coat landed to chew him out for laziness, prompting a subtle twitch of his lips at the humorous imagery. 

Moving past the living room into the kitchen, Leon stopped dead in his tracks as he saw her casually sitting on the marble counter-top, one leg crossed over the other. She wore an elegant black silk dress that comfortably hugged her thighs, leaving the rest of her legs exposed through a slit down the side. Her dark brown hair was down, curled, and sprayed to wit's end to compliment her equally time-consuming makeup job that brought out each and every one of her already-beautiful features. Nonchalantly holding a champagne glass in her right hand, Mallory raised it to her red-painted lips, taking a small sip while the glass in her left hand remained untouched. 

"Hey." Leon mustered, his voice quieter than he was intending. His focus shifted to looking his lover over, sharp green eyes seeming to linger on every one of her features, his smile unconsciously widening the further downward his gaze went. 

Quickly regaining his composure, Leon briefly cleared his throat. "Today's not my birthday, is it?" A short chuckle escaped his lips as both hands found their way to his pants-pockets, still enamored by her appearance. 

"You look... wonderful." He said next, slowly moving towards her to close the distance, his eyes still holding that marvelous mixture of surprise and lust. "What's the occasion? Did I forget about something?" He asked half-heartedly, briefly looking down at his armored uniform for emphasis, though not for long, his gaze instinctively drawn to her, as if the moment he looked away, she'd disappear. 

Chuckling lightly at his reaction, and then again at his words, Mallory gracefully slid herself off the island counter, the heels of her shoes clicking as one foot came into contact with the floor after the other. "You forget I'm a cop too, sometimes." She began to explain as she closed what remaining distance they had between them, extending her left arm for him to take the undisturbed glass of champagne. "I've been listening to the scanner. I know what kind-of day you had." 

Letting their fingers linger as he took the glass from her, Mallory pressed a soft kiss to his freshly-shaved cheek before continuing. "The amount of paperwork alone to clean that all up would make me want to invest in my own winery." She half-joked. 

"God, don't remind me." Leon replied with an exaggerated scoff, immediately bringing the glass to his lips, his eyes briefly closing as the taste of the cool liquid seemed to instantly relax him. 

"You know," he began, lowering his glass back down to the countertop, "I'm almost tempted to stop taking Beta cases, settle in for the cushy Alpha jobs. I'd be playing detective to see who threw a can in the trash can instead of the recycle bin." Pausing to chuckle at his own joke, Leon continued, "Half the time I wonder why we even have units there at all. It's not like a criminal from Beta's gonna be getting in, not without some measure of insane luck. But... there's no point in discussing that right now." Leon paused, letting both hands move to her sides, gently pulling her closer to him. 

"Work's done for the day." With that, he drew his head in to join his lips to hers, all his earlier tension fading away into nothing. Not quite expecting it, Mallory let out a very soft gasp, but quickly eased her eyes closed and brought her now-free hand to hold onto his shoulder, returning his affection by kissing him back, pressing her lips flush with his. 

Getting lost in the gesture but a moment or two longer, she eventually pulled away, albeit slowly. Her steely-blue eyes blinked, the mascara and eyeliner outlining them making them pop and sparkle even more than normal. Her red lips slowly split into a sheepish sort-of smile. 

"There is... something... that I wanted to discuss with you." She finally admitted. She didn't exactly get all gussied up just to greet him with a glass of champagne; she could have done that in her pajamas and he would have been just as happy. 

"Oh? Leon raised his brow, an expression so typical for him it might as well have been on his ID photo. "Is it something illegal? To I have to get my cuffs involved?" He inquired with a playful, sultry look, his eyes locked with hers. They always stood out to him, able to peel past his layers like a knife through butter, stoic and impassioned at the same time. 

"But really, what's going on, Mal?" Leon shifted to a slightly more serious tone, his joviality masked by earnest as he awaited her news. 

She tried to give him a reassuring smile, but his gaze had her faltering. Shaking her head, she pulled herself away from him and walked back to the island in the center of the kitchen. Gone was her sultry, feminine sway. She may as well have been in jeans. Mallory was right back to "work" mode. 

She took one more drink from her glass before she set it down on the marble counter beside his, freeing her hands to pick up an envelope that had been laying there. Then, turning around, she kept the thick envelope closer to her as she began to explain. 

"I put in a transfer a few months ago. When you and I started getting more... serious. I... didn't tell you sooner because I didn't think they would accept it..." She paused, and then ahnded over the envelope to him, a smile not far behind on her glossy lips. "I got their acceptance today. Leo... do you know what this means?" She gave him time to open it up and look over the information himself, his eyes scanning the words inside like any information analyst half-worth-their-salt. "Sure, they'll have me working down in District Six, I'll have to pack up my apartment and move, and there's still a bit of paperwork and finalizing to do... But Leo... it means we can finally go out! Expand our dates outside of your living room!" She chuckled. "We can finally start being a couple!"

"A transfer." Leon repeated, his tone unsure of itself as he began processing the news in his mind, feeling the hum of his cerebral implant documenting the knowledge as though it were a data file in a hard-drive. 

His thoughtful look was soon cracked by that same sincere smile spreading along his lips. "That's... that's wonderful!" He exclaimed, "District Six, that's not terribly far! Quick half-hour drive, if that..." There he went, thinking aloud, as if speaking what was in his mind would make it all easier for him to understand. 

"Oh, I'm gonna miss seeing you at work every day." He noted with a slight twinge of regret, before quickly contradicting himself with another grin. "But this is better than we could have hoped for!" He gently put the letter down on the counter, still unable to fully believe what he was hearing. 

"Well. We can finally make this thing Facebook official, then!"

"Whoa, easy there, Tiger." Mallory put a hand on his chest. It was cute to see him so excited about something, but they had to take this slow, just like the rest of their relationship. 

"First off, no one uses Facebook anymore. And secondly, we can't really do anything until I'm nice and cozy at my new desk. I'll be more than happy to have you do the heavy lifting on moving-day, though." She gave him a playful smile. It was going to happen - finally! Once this was all squared away, there would be no more hiding, no more lying to their boss, no more pretending to be a certain way around the other. 

She wrapped her arms, both of them, around his torso and hugged herself close to him. "I'm going to miss seeing you at work, too." She paused to chuckle. "I guess no more quickies in the staff closet. That was kind-of fun." She lifted her chin to look up at him better. "But...I still have two or so weeks left there... we'll have to make sure to do it at least once more," she winked, "for old time's sake..." 

"What, it's not old enough to be a vintage reference yet?" Leon replied with a small grin, breathing in her perfumed fragrance as she pulled him into an embrace, letting steady hands drift to her back. "It's funny how time flies when something seems so far-off. Then the closer it gets, everything seems to just slow down. Who knows, maybe in a couple of years we could see about settling for one residence instead of two; rub it in the chief's face." Leon smirked softly before locking eyes with hers once again, his face melting away to that same serious expression he often wore at the office. "But whatever we do - whenever we do it - we're going to do together. Always."[/i]

[hr]
[hr]

Leon jolted himself awake with a sharp intake of oxygen, setting fire to unprepared lungs. With a weary call of "Mal?" escaping tired lips, Leon's eyes, narrowed with fatigue took in his surroundings as his vision cleared and mind returned. Swallowing back a bad taste in his mouth, Leon rose from his half-laying posture on the sofa, brushing the stray hair from his face as he took in the vacant living room. He was [url=http://static1.gamespot.com/uploads/original/1179/11799911/2982677-2.jpg]home[/url], and he was alone.  

The apartment was quite nice when first purchased, and still retained a sense of its former Renaissance-esque glory. But its interior was muddled with stray junk and boxes, blankets and pillows tossed about from too many late-nights spend sleeping on the couch instead of the bed. A few hours of cleanup and a bit of better lighting would be more than enough to spruce it back to full vitality, but Leon never seemed to find the time or motivation. 

Stretching out his right arm towards the flask that stood upon the small glass coffee table, Leon stopped just inches away, gaze affixed on his prosthetic, its full artificial nature left uncovered by the short-sleeved t-shirt he wore the day before. Looking like some chromium replica of human musculature, Leon couldn't bring himself to see the synthetic flesh that coated his hand and wrist, instead seeing the plastic, polymers, and fibers that only made the prosthetic feel more alien. Sure, the pressure sensors inside the arm allowed him to touch things, so to speak. Textures, temperature, quality, it was all foreign in this arm. And no matter how long he had it, it would still feel unnatural - a weight that merely [i]looked[/i] like an arm. 

Enclosing his grip around the flask, Leon brought it to chapped lips, throwing his head back as the lukewarm liquid burned down his throat, leaving a bitter and caustic taste in his mouth. Already the nanomachines inside his body were working diligently to break down the alcohol before it could even reach his stomach. After everything the government had poked and prodded, taken out or put inside of him, they couldn't even let him self-destruct. Where was the joy in smoking a cigarette if the burning of nicotine was replaced by your body automatically repairing the damage? What was the point of getting hooked on pain pills if you couldn't even catch a cold? 

Putting the flask back down with a heavy sigh, Leon turned his head towards the glowing digital clock on the wall. Barely past sunset, too early to go back to bed. Most of the Alpha citizens would be schmoozing with each other in some big-name club or penthouse, completely oblivious to the goings-on in Beta. 

Moving to stand, Leon suppressed a stifled groan as his joints popped painfully, the actuators in his limbs not used to lounging. Moving towards the front door, Leon grabbed his jacket, slipping it on sloppily, not sure where he was going or why, just that he was. Opening the door and stepping out, Leon left no more sound behind him than the one lasting shut, not even an automated voice to bid him goodbye.